Cytotoxic T cell effector and memory function in viral immunity

Abstract

The first evidence that virus-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) are primary effectors in vivo came shortly after the discovery of major histo- compatibility complex (MHC)-restricted CD8+ CTL activity (Zinkernagel and Doherty 1974). Adoptive transfer of immune spleen cells from mice of MHC type A into A or (AxB) F1, but not B, virus-infected recipients caused massive inflammatory pathology (Doherty and Zinkernagel 1975; DOHERTY et al. 1976b) and acute elimination of the pathogen (BLANDEN et al. 1975a; Zinkernagel and Welsh 1976). This was repeated for situations in which A and B represented different MHC haplotypes or distinct allelic forms of class I MHC glycoproteins (Doherty and..