Maintenance of CD8(+) T-cell memory following infection with recombinant sindbis and vaccinia viruses

CD8(+) T-cell memory is critical for protection against pathogens poorly controlled by humoral immunity. To characterize two distinct vaccine vectors, the acute and memory CD8(+) T-cell responses to an HIV-1 epitope (p18) expressed by recombinant vaccinia (vp18) and Sindbis (SINp18) viruses were compared. Whereas 9 to 13% of CD8(+) splenocytes were p18 specific during the acute response to vp18, 4% were induced by SINp18 as revealed by class I tetramer staining. Increased T-cell activation by vp18 was confirmed by higher numbers of both p18-specific IFN-gamma-secreting splenocytes and activated CD8(+) and CD4(+) T cells. Although higher frequencies of p18-specific CD8(+) T cells during primary responses correlated with higher frequencies during memory, the overall decline was only two- to threefold during the transition to memory, demonstrating equally efficient maintenance of memory in SINp18- as in vp18-immune mice. Despite modest in vivo activation, SINp18-induced CD4(+) T cells secreted substantial amounts of IFN-gamma and IL-2, potentially contributing to sustained CD8(+) memory. Collectively the data indicate that Sindbis virus recombinants provide effective vaccines for inducing protective memory CD8(+) T cells in the absence of the extensive inflammation and replication associated with vaccinia virus.