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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Separation of Immune Cell Subpopulations in Peripheral Blood Samples from Children with Infectious Mononucleosis
Published on: September 7, 2022
Kinetics of Epstein-Barr virus load and virus-specific CD8+ T cells in acute infectious mononucleosis
Yo Hoshino1, Kazuo Nishikawa, Yoshinori Ito
1Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Background:
During the convalescent phase of acute infectious mononucleosis (AIM), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) load shrinks rapidly in association with a rapid decline in the number of EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells. The actual contribution of EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells in reducing EBV load, however, is not known.
Objectives:
To clarify the impact of EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells on the contraction of EBV load in AIM, we estimated half-lives of both EBV load and EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells.
Study Design:
Blood was serially taken from five pediatric patients with AIM during the convalescent period, including the very early phase, and both EBV load and EBV-specific CD8(+) T cell numbers were assayed.
Results:
EBV load declined rapidly (half-life 1.5 d) during the first 2 weeks after onset of symptoms. This half-life was seven-fold shorter than that reported for CD27(+) memory B cells. Subsequently, the EBV load declined much more slowly, with a half-life of 38.7 d. EBV-specific CD8(+) T cell numbers also declined concomitantly with the decrease in EBV load. The half-life of EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells during first 2 weeks was 2.9 d. The number of EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells and the rate of change of viral load correlated significantly (R(2) ≥ 0.8; p ≤ 0.02).
Conclusions:
The short half-life of EBV load, together with the strong correlation between the number of EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells and the rate of change of viral load indicates an active role for EBV-specific CD8(+) T cells in elimination of EBV in AIM.
