INFLUENZAL PNEUMONIA - EARLY APPEARANCE OF CROSS-REACTIVE T-CELLS IN LUNGS OF MICE PRIMED WITH HETEROLOGOUS TYPE-A VIRUSES

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 35  (3) , 503-509
Abstract
Mice were first primed with a type A or type B influenza virus and then challenged intranasally at least 1 mo. later with another type A virus. Potent cytotoxic T [thymus-derived] cell populations were found in lung, and effector T cell function was demonstrated in blood, spleen and mediastinal lymph nodes. Lymphocytes isolated from these anatomical sites were active against target cells infected with the same or with serologically different type A influenza viruses. Prior exposure to another type A virus resulted in more rapid development of effector function than was seen in mice that first were infected with [Influenzavirus strain] B/Lee. Cytotoxic T cell populations generated in mice with influenza thus tend overall to be type-specific, and there is substantial localization of these effector lymphocytes in the pneumonic lung.