Protection against lethal influenza virus encephalitis by intranasally primed CD8+ memory T cells

The neurotropic influenza virus strain A/WSN (H1N1) caused a rapidly fatal encephalitis after intracerebral inoculation into naive mice. Intranasal immunization with the same virus (homotypic) completely protected mice against a subsequent intracerebral challenge with A/WSN; there was no clinical disease, and infectious virus could not be recovered from the brain. In vivo depletion of CD4+ or CD8+ T cell subsets did not affect homotypic protection, and the pups of immune mothers were also protected against a lethal intracerebral challenge with A/WSN, suggesting that the Ab produced by intranasal priming was sufficient to protect mice against later intracerebral infection. Intranasal immunization with the heterotypic influenza strain A/X31 (H3N2) did not generate protective Ab, but despite an acute illness, 80% of mice survived the subsequent intracerebral challenge. Immune protection was associated with CD8+ T cell infiltration throughout the brain substance, together with widespread up-regulation of intracerebral MHC class I and MHC class II expression. In vivo T cell subset depletion showed that heterotypic protection was dependent upon CD8+, but not CD4+, T cells. This model system demonstrates some of the mechanisms through which the immunity generated by an initial extracerebral virus infection may protect against later intracerebral virus replication.