Work

Expression of cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen by CD8+ T cells specific for a skin-tropic virus

Year: 2002

Type: article

Abstract: Virus-specific CD8 + T cells traffic to infected tissues to promote clearance of infection.We used herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) as a model system to investigate CD8 + T cell trafficking to the skin in humans.Using human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I tetramers, we observed that HSV-specific CD8 + T cells in the peripheral blood expressed high levels of cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen (CLA).In contrast, CD8 + T cells specific for non-skin-tropic herpesviruses lacked CLA expression.CLA-positive HSV-2-specific CD8 + T cells had the characteristics of central memory cells, expressing CCR7, CD62L, and CD28, and they proliferated briskly in response to antigen.CLA is related to a functional E-selectin ligand, and both E-selectin and CLA-positive cells were detected in HSV-2-infected skin.HSV-2-specific T cells adhered to cells transfected with E-selectin.A higher proportion of HSV-specific CD8 + T cells recovered from herpes lesions express CLA compared with blood, consistent with a role for CLA in skin homing.To our knowledge, this is the first report of expression of tissue-specific adhesion-associated molecules by virus-specific CD8 + T cells.The evaluation of vaccines for skin and mucosal pathogens should include study of the induction of appropriate tissue-specific homing molecules.

Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation

DOI: 10.1172/jci200215537