SPECIFIC CYTOXIC T-CELLS ELIMINATE CELLS PRODUCING NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES

IN medically important infections with cytopathic viruses, neutralizin g antibodies are generated within 6-14 days. in contrast, such protect ive antibodies appear late (50-150 days) after infection with immunode ficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) in humans, or lymphoc ytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) in mice(1-6). However, during these infections, non-neutralizing antibodies appear much earlier(2,6,7). I t has been proposed that T cells suppress antibody responses generally and against viruses in vitro(6,8-10). Here we show that the suppressi on of neutralizing-antibody responses in LCMV infections in mice is du e to selective infection of neutralizing-antibody producing B cells by this non-cytopathic virus, and their subsequent destruction by virus- specific cytotoxic T cells. Such specific B-cell elimination that lead s to a delay in neutralizing-antibody production could help to establi sh persistent virus infections by non-cytopathic viruses.