CD4 T Cell-Dependent CD8 T Cell Maturation

We have investigated the contribution of CD4 T cells to the optimal priming of functionally robust memory CD8 T cell subsets. Intranasal infection of CD4 T cell-deficient (CD4^-/-) mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus resulted in the elaboration of virus-specific CD8 T cell responses that cleared the infection. However, by comparison with normal mice, the virus-specific CD8 T cells in CD4^-/- mice were quantitatively and qualitatively different. In normal mice, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-specific memory CD8 T cells ate CD44^high, many are CD122 ^high, and a majority of these cells regain expression of CD62L overtime. These cells produce IFN-γ and TNF-α, and a subset also produces IL-2. In the absence of CD4 T cell help, a distinct subset of memory CD8 T cells develops that remains CD62L^low up to 1 year after infection and exhibits a CD44^intCD122^low phenotype. These cells are qualitatively different from their counterparts in normal hosts, as their capacity to produce TNF-α and IL-2 is diminished. In addition, although CD4-independent CD8 T cells can contain the infection following secondary viral challenge, their ability to expand is impaired. These findings suggest that CD4 T cell responses not only contribute to the optimal priming of CD8 T cells in chronically infected hosts, but are also critical for the phenotypic and functional maturation of CD8 T cell responses to Ags that are more rapidly cleared. Moreover, these data imply that the development of CD62L^high central memory CD8 T cells is arrested in the absence of CD4 T cell help.