CD4 T cells can protect APC from CTL-mediated elimination

Abstract

Professional APC play a central role in generating antiviral CD8 + CTL immunity. However, the fate of such APC following interaction with these same CTL remains poorly understood. We have shown previously that prolonged Ag presentation persists in the presence of a strong CTL response following HSV infection. In this study, we examined the mechanism of survival of APC in vivo when presenting an immunodominant determinant from HSV. We show that transferred peptide-labeled dendritic cells were eliminated from draining lymph nodes in the presence of HSV-specific CTL. Maturation of dendritic cells with LPS or anti-CD40 before injection protected against CTL lysis in vivo. Furthermore, endogenous..