Virus-specific CD8 T-cell memory determined by clonal burst size

Abstract

Although some viruses, particularly the herpes viruses, may never be eliminated from the body1, others like influenza A, regularly reinfect humans and boost waning crossreactive CD8+ T-cell immunity2. Prolonged T-cell memory is found for viruses that are unlikely to be re-encountered and which do not persist in the host genome 3-5, indicating that CD8+ T-cell memory might be independent of continued (or sporadic) antigenic exposure. A feature of virus-specific CD8+ T-cell memory is that antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte precursors (CTLp) are greatly increased and remain high throughout life. The idea that persistence of the inducing antigen is essential is based on experiments in which..