Abstract
Virus-specific T cell responses are often directed to a small subset of possible epitopes and their relative magnitude defines their hierarchy. We determined the size and functional avidity of 4 representative peptide-specific CD8+ T cell populations in C57BL/6 mice at different time points after lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection. We found that the frequency of different peptide-specific T cell populations in the spleen changed independently over the first 8 days after infection. These changes were not associated with a larger or more rapid increase in functional avidity and yet still resulted in a shift in the final immunodominance hierarchy. Thus, the immunodominance observed at the peak of an antiviral T cell response is not necessarily determined by the initial size or rate of functional avidity maturation of peptide-specific T cell populations.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 197-204 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Virology |
Volume | 390 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1 2009 |
Keywords
- CD8
- Functional avidity
- Immunodominance
- LCMV
- T cells
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Virology