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Journal of Virology, April 2002, p. 3748-3755, Vol. 76, No. 8
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.8.3748-3755.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Sustained High Frequencies of Specific CD4 T Cells Restricted to a Single Persistent Virus

Martina Sester,1 Urban Sester,1 Barbara Gärtner,2 Boris Kubuschok,3 Matthias Girndt,1 Andreas Meyerhans,2 and Hans Köhler1*

Medical Department IV,1 Medical Department I,3 Department of Virology, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of the Saarland, D-66421 Homburg, Germany2

Received 10 September 2001/ Accepted 2 January 2002

Replication of cytomegalovirus (CMV) is largely controlled by the cellular arm of the immune response. In this study the CMV-specific CD4 T-cell response was characterized in a cohort of apparently healthy individuals. In 11% of all individuals, extremely high frequencies, between 10 and 40%, were found. High-level frequencies of CMV-specific CD4 T cells persisted over several months and were not the result of an acute infection. Specific T cells were oligoclonal and were phenotypically and functionally characterized as mature effector cells, with both cytokine-secreting and proliferative potential. These high-level frequencies do not seem to compromise the immune response towards heterologous infections, and no signs of immunopathology were observed. Whereas a large temporary expansion of virus-specific T cells is well known to occur during acute infection, we now show that extremely high frequencies of virus-specific T cells may continuously exist in chronic CMV infection without overtly compromising the remaining protective immunity.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Medical Department IV, Nephrology, University of the Saarland, D-66421 Homburg, Germany. Phone: 49-6841-1623526. Fax: 49-6841-1623499. E-mail: inhkoe{at}uniklinik-saarland.de.

Journal of Virology, April 2002, p. 3748-3755, Vol. 76, No. 8
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.8.3748-3755.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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