[Reaction of influenza viruses with thymus-dependent lymphocytes]

Apart from the humoral immune response against influenza viruses recent years much attention has focussed on problems of cell-mediated immunity. The most important cell-mediated immune reactions of humans and experimental animals against influenza viruses and the most used in-vitro-assays were reviewed in the present paper. Especially the specificity of these reactions against the surface antigens of influenza viruses, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase was presented. A lot of open questions in the field of the cellular immune defense against influenza viruses were also shown.