Characterization of the immune response to intracerebral inoculation of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus: fine protein specificity of the splenic T cell and humoral antibody response.

The spleen T cell proliferative response of SJL/J mice primed by intracerebral inoculation of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) was characterized in vitro. A dose-response [3H]thymidine incorporation was found with TMEV, but not with unrelated viruses. The maximum response was obtained at doses of 5 X 10(5) cells per well with cultures of 96 h duration. Viral capsid proteins VP1 and VP2 carried the antigenic determinants for the T cell response, VP3 playing no role in the in vitro cellular immune response. The antibody synthesis showed the same antigenic specificity as the cellular one, as only antibodies against VP1 and VP2 could be found in the sera of the immunized animals.