Antigen expressed as MHC Class I glycoprotein (pMHCI) complexes on dendritic cells is the primary driver of CD8 ؉ T cell clonal expansion and differentiation. As we seek to define the molecular differences between acutely stimulated cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effectors and long-lived memory T cells, it is essential that we understand the duration of in vivo pMHCI persistence. Although infectious influenza A virus is readily cleared by mammalian hosts, that does not necessarily mean that all influenza antigen is totally eliminated. An exhaustive series of carefully controlled adoptive transfer experiments using 3 different carboxy fluorescein diacetate succinimidyl esterlabeled T cell receptor-transgenic CTL populations and a spectrum of genetically engineered and wild-type influenza A viruses provided no evidence for pMHCI persistence over the 30 -60-d interval after virus challenge. Molecular profiles identified in antigen-specific T cells at this time may thus be considered to reflect established immunologic memory and not recent CTL activation from a persistent pMHCI pool.
V irus-specific CD8ϩ T cell-mediated immunity is a critical component of the host response. Naive CD8 ϩ T cells recognize virus-derived peptides presented in the context of MHC Class I glycoproteins (pMHCI). Encountering these pMHCI complexes on professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in draining lymph nodes (1) triggers CD8 ϩ T cell proliferation and differentiation (2, 3) to mediate cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effector function, a primary mechanism of virus clearance (4). Other clonally expanded CD8 ϩ T cells survive to establish a stable memory pool (2). Although it is possible to probe the molecular events that underlie these events using in vitro culture systems, what happens to T cells during and after an infectious challenge is optimally determined by minimizing the extent of manipulation after lymphocyte separation from the intact host. For example, we have recently demonstrated that a minority of influenza-specific memory CTLs recovered directly ex vivo can maintain cytotoxic gene expression for up to 1 year after infection (5). Understanding what this means in a molecular sense requires a clear picture of the likely stimulatory environment. Defining the importance of antigen load through the establishment and maintenance phases of CD8ϩ T cell immunity is also essential if we are to take rational approaches to vaccine design.Some viruses that first establish an acute, lytic infectious process have evolved mechanisms that allow them to persist at a low level (or in a latent form) for the life of the host. This is not the case for influenza in immunologically competent mice or, so far as we are aware, in other mammalian species. Numerous lines of evidence based on (i) feeding the thymidine analogue bromodeoxyuridine to monitor antigen-specific T cell expansion (6), (ii) isolating dendritic cells (DCs) to probe for pMHCI expression (7), and (iii) PCR to detect viral genome in the recovered lung (8-10) support the view that the...