Murine gammaherpesvirus-induced splenomegaly: a critical role for CD4 T cells
Usherwood, Edward J. and Ross, Alan J. and Allen, Deborah J. and Nash, Anthony A.,, 77, 627-630 (1996),
doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-77-4-627,
publicationName = Microbiology Society,
issn = 0022-1317,
abstract= Murine gammaherpesvirus (MHV-68) causes an acute respiratory infection followed by a latent infection in B lymphocytes. In the first 2–3 weeks after infection mice develop a marked splenomegaly, where the spleen cell number increases by 2–3-fold. Cytofluorimetric analysis during splenomegaly revealed an increase in numbers of B lymphocytes and of both CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. The largest increase relative to uninfected spleens was in the CD8+ population. The number of latently infected cells in the spleen peaked at day 10 post-intraperitoneal infection, then declined to 1/106–1/107 cells per spleen. Depletion of CD4+ T lymphocytes prevented the splenomegaly and greatly reduced the peak infective centre level, while having no effect on the long-term level of latently infected cells. Given the similarity between MHV-68-induced splenomegaly and Epstein-Barr virus-induced infectious mononucleosis, these data highlight the usefulness of MHV-68 as a mouse model for the study of gammaherpesvirus immunology and pathobiology.,
language=,
type=