Polyclonal CD4 TCR Affinities are not altered in chronic viral infection (VIR7P.1058)

Abstract

Abstract The range of polyclonal CD4 T cell receptor (TCR) affinities that participate during the response to viral infection is currently unknown. Utilizing a highly sensitive two-dimensional micropipette adhesion frequency assay (2D), we determined the TCR affinity and frequency of CD4 T cells that expand and survive throughout multiple phases of the chronic and acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) T cell response. We discovered consistently more (4-5 fold) CD4 T cells specific for the IAb GP66-77 LCMV epitope than detected with pMHC II tetramer. The 2D identified lower affinity cells participate in the anti-viral response and are apparent at all time points of acute and chronic infection. Average TCR affinities measured at peak and later stages of the chronic response remained constant and equivalent to corresponding acute response measurements. However, programmed death 1 (PD-1) expressing CD4+ T cells late in chronic infection are functionally unresponsive despite static affinities. In contrast, memory cells in the acute response have a higher functional avidity compared to peak effectors (produce IFNγ in response to lower amount of peptide antigen) yet T cell memory is not restricted to select TCR affinities. Our findings suggest long term antigen exposure and functional enhancement/impairment exert no selective pressure in the survival or deletion of specific CD4 TCR affinities and TCR affinity alone does not always predict biological response.