Clonal expansion of infiltrating T cells in the spinal cords of SJL/J mice infected with Theiler's virus

JA Kang, M Mohindru, BS Kang, SH Park… - The Journal of …, 2000 - journals.aai.org
JA Kang, M Mohindru, BS Kang, SH Park, BS Kim
The Journal of Immunology, 2000journals.aai.org
Intracerebral infection of susceptible mice with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus
results in immune-mediated inflammatory demyelination in the white matter and consequent
clinical symptoms. This system has been utilized as an important virus model for human
multiple sclerosis. Although the potential involvement of virus-specific Th cells has been
studied extensively, very little is known about the nature of T cells infiltrating the CNS during
viral infection and their role in the development of demyelinating disease. In this study, the …
Abstract
Intracerebral infection of susceptible mice with Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus results in immune-mediated inflammatory demyelination in the white matter and consequent clinical symptoms. This system has been utilized as an important virus model for human multiple sclerosis. Although the potential involvement of virus-specific Th cells has been studied extensively, very little is known about the nature of T cells infiltrating the CNS during viral infection and their role in the development of demyelinating disease. In this study, the clonal nature of T cells in the spinal cord during the disease course was analyzed using size spectratyping and sequencing of the TCR β-chain CDR3 region. These studies clearly indicate that T cells are clonally expanded in the CNS after viral infection, although the overall TCR repertoire appears to be diverse. The clonal expansion appears to be Ag-driven in that it includes Th cells specific for known viral epitopes. Interestingly, such restricted accumulation of T cells was not detectable in the infiltrates of mice with proteolipid protein peptide-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. The initial T cell repertoire (7–9 days postinfection) seems to be more diverse than that observed in the later stage (65 days) of virally induced demyelination, despite the more restricted utilization of Vβ subfamilies. These results strongly suggest continuous stimulation and clonal expansion of virus-specific T cells in the CNS of Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus-infected mice during the entire course of demyelinating disease.
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