Depletion of CD8+ T cells increases susceptibility and reverses vaccine-induced immunity in mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi.

The role of CD8+ T cells in immune control of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in mice was examined by using in vivo depletion of CD8+ T cells with antibodies. Both the resistant C57BL/6J and the highly susceptible C3H/HeSnJ developed higher parasitemias and increased or earlier mortality when depleted of CD8+ T cells before infection with the Brazil strain of T. cruzi. CD8 depletion also affected the induction and expression of immunity to T. cruzi after vaccination with the avirulent Corpus Christi strain of T. cruzi. C57BL/6J mice depleted of CD8+ T cells either before or after vaccination showed a near total loss of vaccine induced protection. C3H mice were only partially protected by the vaccination procedure but the protection was totally reversed by anti-CD8 treatment. Chronically infected mice that had survived the acute infection were unaffected by CD8 depletion and showed neither a recrudescence of parasitemia nor an increased susceptibility to reinfection. These results suggest that CD8+ T cells play a role in immunity to T. cruzi in the acute phase but possibly not during the chronic phase of infection. Also, immunization with Corpus Christi strain T. cruzi induces an immunity that is distinct from that induced by survival of the acute phase of infection. The mechanism by which CD8+ T cells contribute to control of T. cruzi infection is not known. However, CD8 depletion had no effect on suppressed immune responses, suggesting their function in T. cruzi-infected mice is related more to the cytotoxic activity or cytokine-producing capacity of this subpopulation of T cells.