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Detection of the functional CD8+ CTL response usually requires in vitro restimulation. The differences between the CD8+ CTL repertoire in freshly isolated precursor cells and CD8+ CTL after short-term in vitro expansion have been generally assumed to be minimal, but have never been defined experimentally. Using staining with P18-I10/H-2Dd tetramers and monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against Vβ, we show the surprising result that there was significant skewing of the CD8+ CTL repertoire after just 7 days of stimulation. In contrast, we found that overnight incubation of precursor cells with peptide allows the functional assessment of CD8+ CTL (which cannot be detected ex vivo from freshly isolatedcells) without changing the absolute number of antigen-specific CTL as measured by tetramer staining or the repertoire of TCR analyzed with mAb. This study affords a better understanding of the differences between the ex vivo and in vitro stimulated CTL repertoire, and provides an approach to reveal a more faithful representation of the functional in vivo CTL response without skewing of the repertoire of T cells detected.

The ability of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) to clear viral infections may be limited when high avidity CTL encounter supra-optimal antigen density on antigen-presenting cells (APC) and undergo antigen-dependent apoptosis of CTL (ADAC). Previously, we have shown ADAC in CD8+ populations to be Fas independent, TNF-alpha receptor 2 (TNFR2) mediated, caspase dependent, and accompanied by a decrease in Bcl-2. We now employ flow cytometry to follow ADAC within individual CD8+ cells to demonstrate that the intense TCR signal induced in high avidity CTL by supra-optimal antigen density results 8 - 16 h later in a caspase-independent TNFR2 down-modulation that is directly related to the stimulating APC antigen density and concludes in a rapid onset of apoptosis by 18 - 24 h. Individual CTL undergoing apoptosis exhibit a dramatic and concurrent: (1) positive staining with Annexin V and propidium iodide; (2) transformation to a smaller cell size characteristic of apoptosis; and (3) a nearly complete loss of Bcl-2, c-IAP1, and TRAF2. We conclude that the antigen-dependent apoptosis of CD8+ CTL occurs when a tandem TCR/TNFR2 signal initiates an abrupt and concordant onset of multiple apoptotic events.

Previously, we observed that high-avidity CTL are much more effective in vivo than low-avidity CTL in elimination of infected cells, but the mechanisms behind their superior activity remained unclear. In this study, we identify two complementary mechanisms: 1) high-avidity CTL lyse infected cells earlier in the course of a viral infection by recognizing lower Ag densities than those distinguished by low-avidity CTL and 2) they initiate lysis of target cells more rapidly at any given Ag density. Alternative mechanisms were excluded, including: 1) the possibility that low-avidity CTL might control virus given more time (virus levels remained as high at 6 days following transfer as at 3 days) and 2) that differences in efficacy might be correlated with homing ability. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of high- and low-avidity CTL into SCID mice demonstrated that transfer of a 10-fold greater amount of low-avidity CTL could only partially compensate for their decreased ability to eliminate infected cells. Thus, we conclude that high-avidity CTL exploit two complementary mechanisms that combine to prevent the spread of virus within the animal: earlier recognition of infected cells when little viral protein has been made and more rapid lysis of infected cells.