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Updated: Oct 7, 2026

Ex Vivo Organotypic Corneal Model of Acute Epithelial Herpes Simplex Virus Type I Infection
Published on: November 3, 2012
Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are involved in protection against HSV-1 induced corneal scarring
1Ophthalmology Research, Cedars-Sinai Burns and Allen Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Aim:
To determine the relative impact of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in protecting mice against ocular HSV-1 challenge.
Methods:
CD4+ T cell knockout mice (CD4-/- mice), CD8+ T cell knockout mice (CD8-/- mice), and mice depleted for CD4+ or CD8+ T cells by antibody (CD4+ depleted and CD8+ depleted mice), were examined for their ability to withstand HSV-1 ocular challenge. The parental mice for both knockout mice were C57BL/6J.
Results:
These results suggest that: (1) both CD4+ deficient mice (CD4-/- and CD4+ depleted mice) and CD8+ deficient mice (CD8-/-, and CD8+ depleted mice) developed significantly more corneal scarring than their C57BL/6J parental strain; (2) the duration of virus clearance from the eyes of the CD4+ deficient mice was 4 days longer than that of the CD8+ deficient mice; and (3) the severity of corneal scarring in the CD4+ deficient mice was approximately twice that of the CD8+ deficient mice.
Conclusions:
It was reported here that: (1) CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were both involved in protection against lethal ocular HSV-1 infection; and (2) CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were both involved in protection against HSV-1 induced corneal scarring.
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