Interleukin-4-mediated downregulation of cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity is associated with reduced proliferation of antigen-specific CD8 + T cells

Date

2003

Authors

Rolph, M
Ramshaw, Ian

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

During virus infection, exogenous IL-4 strongly downregulates expression of antiviral cytokines and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. In this study, we have employed a T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic system to more closely investigate the effect of IL-4 on CTL activity. This system involves mice transgenic for an H2-Kb restricted TCR recognising an ovalbumin (OVA)-specific peptide (OT-I mice), and recombinant vaccinia viruses expressing the gene for OVA (VV-OVA), or OVA together with IL-4 (VV-OVA-IL-4). Spleen cells from OT-I mice were adoptively transferred to irradiated C57BL/6 mice infected with VV-OVA or VV-OVA-IL-4. Five days following transfer, markedly stronger CTL activity was detected in VV-OVA- than in VV-OVA-IL-4-infected recipients. The reduction in CTL activity was associated with a reduction in the number of OVA-specific CD8+ T cells. Proliferation of cells from VV-OVA-IL-4-infected recipients was dramatically reduced, and this is a likely explanation for the IL-4-mediated reduction in the total number of OVA-specific cells and the reduced cytotoxic activity. On a per cell basis, the production of IFNγ and cytotoxic activity of OVA-specific CD8+ cells was not influenced by IL-4. Taken together, our results indicate that the reduction in CTL activity by exogenous IL-4 is due to a reduced number of antigen-specific effectors, and does not involve a downregulation of effector function of these cells.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: CD8 antigen; interleukin 4; ovalbumin; T lymphocyte receptor; adoptive transfer; animal cell; animal experiment; animal model; antigen detection; antigen specificity; article; controlled study; cytotoxic T lymphocyte; down regulation; effector cell; gene Cytotoxic T lymphocytes; Interleukin-4; Ovalbumin; Vaccinia

Citation

Source

Microbes and Infection

Type

Journal article

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2037-12-31