Specificity, Ly phenotype, and H-2 compatibility requirements of effector cells in delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to murine influenza virus infection

Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to infectious and to noninfectious (UV-irradiated) influenza A viral preparations was measured in mice by the increase in footpad swelling 24 h after injection of the eliciting virus. DTH mice sensitized with noninfectious virus was elicited only by virus that shared hemagglutinin specificity with the sensitizing virus, whereas footpad injection of a given A-strain virus (A/WSN) could elicit DTH in mice sensitized with a variety of infectious A-strain viruses, including some not sharing hemagglutinin or neuraminidase specificities. The effector T cells generated in mice sensitized with either form of virus were sensitive to anti-Ly 1.1 serum and complement, but not to anti-Ly 2.1 serum and complement. Adoptive transfer of DTH was H-2 restricted. With spleen cells from mice sensitized subcutaneously with either infectious or noninfectious virus, sharing of the IA region was both necessary and sufficient for successful transfer to occur. Cells recovered from infected mouse lungs, and secondary effector cells generated in vitro transferred DTH if injected into the footpad with the eliciting virus. The effector cells had the Ly 1 phenotype, and, in both cases, the cells were I restricted. These results contrast with earlier findings that transfer of DTH to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection required K- or D-region sharing between donor and recipient. Thus, the earlier hypothesis that multiplying infectious agents such as viruses would "alter" K- or D-coded, rather than I-coded, structures is not generally correct.