CD4 T cell control of acute and latent murine gammaherpesvirus infection requires IFNgamma

Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (gammaHV68, MHV-68)-specific CD4 T cells control gammaHV68 infection by reducing the frequency of latently infected cells and by inhibiting viral replication. We have previously demonstrated that CD4 T cells do not require CD8 T or B cells to control gammaHV68 replication, demonstrating a helper-independent activity of CD4 T cells during gammaHV68 infection. The effector mechanism(s) required for this helper-independent function of CD4 T cells and for the inhibition of the establishment of latency by CD4 T cells are not known. Since IFNgamma has been previously shown to be important for control of acute, latent, and persistent gammaHV68 infection, we tested the hypothesis that CD4 T cells require IFNgamma to limit gammaHV68 latency and replication. We utilized a previously described system in which T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic T cells (DO.11.10) and a recombinant virus (gammaHV68.OVA) allow for evaluation of high numbers of virus-specific CD4 T cells during both acute and latent infection. We show here that virus-specific CD4 T cells require IFNgamma for their anti-viral function in both acute and latent gammaHV68 infection. We additionally show that an in vitro derived T helper type 1 (TH1) CD4 T cell clone, which produces IFNgamma, inhibits gammaHV68 replication after adoptive transfer into RAG mice. Together, data presented here demonstrate that both CD4 T cell-mediated helper-independent control of gammaHV68 replication and inhibition of the establishment of gammaHV68 latency require IFNgamma.