Pulmonary eosinophilia is attenuated by early responding CD8(+) memory T cells in a murine model of RSV vaccine-enhanced disease

Viral Immunol. 2009 Jul;22(4):243-51. doi: 10.1089/vim.2009.0016.

Abstract

Vaccination with formalin-inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine results in enhanced respiratory tract inflammation and injury following subsequent RSV infection. RSV vaccine-enhanced disease can also be produced in mice by prior vaccination with a vaccinia virus vector containing the RSV G protein, followed by intranasal infectious RSV challenge, a process characterized by induction of a potent memory CD4(+) T-cell response to challenge infection with some features characteristic of Th-2 CD4(+) T-cell responses, including increased eosinophil accumulation in pulmonary inflammatory infiltrates. The adaptive immune response to the RSV G protein in immunized BALB/c mice is characterized by a weak or absent primary and secondary recall CD8(+) T-cell response. These and related results have led to the hypothesis that the failure of the infected animals to mount an effective CD8(+) memory T-cell (CD8(+) Tm) response in this model could account for the pulmonary eosinophilia associated with the development of enhanced disease, and that CD8(+) T cells may control the development of eosinophilia. In this study, we investigated how and when the generation of a CD8(+) Tm response to RSV infection might affect the development of pulmonary eosinophilia in this model of vaccine-enhanced disease. By defining the CD8(+) T-cell response kinetics and monitoring lung parenchymal eosinophil accumulation, we show that the establishment of an RSV-specific CD8(+) Tm response in the infected lungs early after challenge infection (i.e., within the first 3 d of RSV infection) is necessary and sufficient to control pulmonary eosinophilia development. Additionally, our work suggests that the mechanism by which CD8(+) T cells regulate this process is not by modulating the differentiation or development of the CD4(+) Tm response. Rather, we demonstrate that IL-10 produced by early responding CD8(+) Tm cells may regulate the pulmonary eosinophilia development observed in RSV vaccine-enhanced disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / metabolism
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Interleukin-10 / biosynthesis
  • Interleukin-10 / immunology
  • Lung / immunology
  • Lung / metabolism
  • Lung / virology
  • Lymphocyte Activation
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Pulmonary Eosinophilia / etiology
  • Pulmonary Eosinophilia / immunology*
  • Pulmonary Eosinophilia / metabolism
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / complications
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / immunology*
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / prevention & control
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines / immunology*
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines / therapeutic use
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / immunology
  • Time Factors
  • Vaccines, Inactivated / immunology
  • Vaccines, Inactivated / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines
  • Vaccines, Inactivated
  • Interleukin-10