CYTOTOXIC LYMPHOCYTE-T RESPONSE TO MURINE CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-INFECTION

THE immune response to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is poorly understood, but it is believed that the cellular immune system has a critical role. It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in homograft recipients1,2, leukaemic individuals3,4 and others receiving immunosuppressive drug therapy5. In these patients, high levels of serum antibody often fail to eradicate chronic infection6. Infection of mice with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV)7 has provided additional evidence of the importance of T-lymphocyte function in the immune response to CMV: nude mice8, and mice treated with anti-thymocyte serum9 or undergoing graft-versus-host reaction10 all succumb to much lower infecting doses of virus than do normal mice. It has been shown that purified human CMV can induce proliferation of lymphocytes from immune individuals11, but T-cell specific responses to CMV infection have not yet been demonstrated. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses have been described for several viral infections12-17. We report here a virus-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response in MCMV infection. © 1978 Nature Publishing Group.