Nature Immunology3, 265 - 271 (2002)
Published online: 4 February 2002; | doi:10.1038/ni762
Visualizing priming of virus-specific CD8+ T cells by infected dendritic cells in vivo
Christopher C. Norbury2, Daniela Malide1, James S. Gibbs1, Jack R. Bennink1
& Jonathan W. Yewdell1
1
Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0440, USA.
2
Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Jonathan W. Yewdell jyewdell@nih.gov
The rational design of vaccines that elicit CD8+ T cell responses requires knowledge of the identity of the antigen-presenting cell (APC), the location and time of presentation and the nature of the antigen presented by the APC. Here we address these questions for an antigen encoded by a recombinant vaccinia virus. We found that, following local infection, vaccinia virus infected macrophages and dendritic cells in draining lymph nodes. However, only the dendritic cells presented antigen to naïve CD8+ T cells, as determined by direct visualization of sectioned nodes by confocal microscopy. Presentation occurred as rapidly as 6 h after inoculation and quickly declined in parallel with the number of infected cells present in the nodes. These data provide direct evidence that virus-infected APCs prime naïve CD8+ T cells in vivo.
