Direct Priming of CD8⁺ T Cells Persists in the Face of Cowpox Virus Inhibitors of Antigen Presentation.

ABSTRACT: Vaccinia virus (VACV) was the vaccine used to eradicate smallpox and is being repurposed as a vaccine vector. CD8⁺ T cells are key anti-viral mediators, but require priming to become effector or memory cells. Priming requires an interaction with dendritic cells that are either infected (direct priming), or that have acquired virus proteins but remain uninfected (cross priming). To investigate CD8⁺ T cell priming pathways for VACV, we engineered the virus to express CPXV12 and CPXV203, two inhibitors of antigen presentation encoded by cowpox virus. These intracellular proteins would be expected to block direct but not cross priming. The inhibitors had diverse impacts on the size of anti-VACV CD8⁺ T cell responses across epitopes and by different infection ro

SUBMITTER: Lin LCW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8139650 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature