Quantitative and qualitative features of heterologous virus-vector-induced antigen-specific CD8+ T cells against Trypanosoma cruzi infection

We studied some aspects of the quantitative and qualitative features of heterologous recombinant (re) virus-vector-induced, antigen-specific CD8+ T cells against Trypanosoma cruzi. We used three different, highly attenuated re-viruses, i.e., influenza virus, adenovirus and vaccinia virus, which all expressed a single, T. cruzi antigen-derived CD8+ T-cell epitope. The use of two out of three vectors or the triple virus-vector vaccination regimen not only confirmed that the re-vaccinia virus, which was placed last in order for sequential immunisation, was an effective booster for the CD8+ T-cell immunity in terms of the number of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells, but also demonstrated that (i) the majority of cells exhibit the effector memory (TEM) phenotype, (ii) robustly secrete IFN-γ, (iii) express higher intensity of the CD122 molecule and (iv) present protective activity against T. cruzi infection. In contrast, placing the re-influenza virus last in sequential immunisation had a detrimental effect on the quantitative and qualitative features of CD8+ T cells. The triple virus-vector vaccination was more effective at inducing a stronger CD8+ T-cell immunity than using two re-viruses. The different quantitative and qualitative features of CD8+ T cells induced by different immunisation regimens support the notion that the refinement of the best choice of multiple virus-vector combinations is indispensable for the induction of a maximum number of CD8+ T cells of high quality.

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