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Journal of Virology, May 2009, p. 4386-4394, Vol. 83, No. 9
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.02524-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Impact of Epitope Escape on PD-1 Expression and CD8 T-Cell Exhaustion during Chronic Infection{triangledown}

Joseph N. Blattman,{dagger} E. John Wherry,{ddagger} Sang-Jun Ha, Robbert G. van der Most,§ and Rafi Ahmed*

Emory Vaccine Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1510 Clifton Road, Room G211, Atlanta, Georgia 30322

Received 8 December 2008/ Accepted 3 February 2009

During some persistent viral infections, virus-specific T-cell responses wane due to the antigen-specific deletion or functional inactivation (i.e., exhaustion) of responding CD8 T cells. T-cell exhaustion often correlates with high viral load and is associated with the expression of the inhibitory receptor PD-1. In other infections, functional T cells are observed despite high levels of pathogen persistence. The reasons for these different T-cell fates during chronic viral infections are not clear. Here, we tracked the fate of virus-specific CD8 T cells in lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)-infected mice during viral clearance, the persistence of wild-type virus, or the selection and persistence of a viral variant that abrogates the presentation of a single epitope. Viral clearance results in PD-1lo functional virus-specific CD8 T cells, while the persistence of wild-type LCMV results in high PD-1 levels and T-cell exhaustion. However, following the emergence of a GP35V->A variant virus that abrogates the presentation of the GP33 epitope, GP33-specific CD8 T cells remained functional, continued to show low levels of PD-1, and reexpressed CD127, a marker of memory T-cell differentiation. In the same animals and under identical environmental conditions, CD8 T cells recognizing nonmutated viral epitopes became physically deleted or were PD-1hi and nonfunctional. Thus, the upregulation of PD-1 and the functional inactivation of virus-specific T cells during chronic viral infection is dependent upon continued epitope recognition. These data suggest that optimal strategies for vaccination should induce high-magnitude broadly specific T-cell responses that prevent cytotoxic T-lymphocyte escape and highlight the need to evaluate the function of vaccine-induced T cells in the context of antigens presented during virus persistence.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Emory Vaccine Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1510 Clifton Road, Room G211, Atlanta, GA 30322. Phone: (404) 727-4700. Fax: (404) 727-3722. E-mail: ra{at}microbio.emory.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 11 February 2009.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Immunology, University of Washington, 1616 Eastlake Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102.

{ddagger} Present address: Immunology Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

§ Present address: School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia.

Journal of Virology, May 2009, p. 4386-4394, Vol. 83, No. 9
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.02524-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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