Gammadelta T cell response induced by vaginal Herpes simplex 2 infection

The purpose of the present studies was to determine whether acute vaginal infection with Herpes virus 2 altered the vaginal population of gammadelta T cells, and whether gammadelta T cells influenced the vaginal clearance of HSV-2. BALB/c mice were infected intravaginally with the progressively lethal wild type 333 strain, or the non-lethal thymidine kinase deficient (deltaTK- -HSV-2) mutant strain of HSV-2 virus. Changes in vaginal T cell composition were examined by FACS analysis 4 days after infection. Clearance of vaginal deltaTK- -HSV-2 infection was compared between mice with normal gammadelta T cell populations (BALB/c) and transgenic mice in which all the gammadelta T cells express a receptor that is specific for the b allotype of MHC class Ib T10 antigen (G8/BALB/c). In HSV-2 infected BALB/c mice, but not G8/BALB/c, a subset of gammadelta T cells that express a Vgamma2 TCR accumulated in the vaginal mucosa by the fourth day after infection. Unexpectedly, we found that gammadelta TCR transgenic mice exhibited a more rapid clearance of the virus than control mice (P < 0.05). These findings argue against the hypothesis that the normal populations of vaginal intraepithelial gammadelta T cells play a direct role in the elimination of virally infected epithelial cells.