T cell-mediated immunoregulation of Epstein Barr virus- (EBV) induced B lymphocyte activation in EBV-seropositive and EBV-seronegative individuals.

Infection with Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is accompanied by seroconversion and life-long persistence of the virus in B lymphocytes. During acute EBV-induced infectious mononucleosis, suppressor T cells become activated, which may provide an additional mechanism of host defense against the causative agent. When cultures of lymphocytes from normal adults seropositive for EBV were stimulated with the B95-8 strain of EBV, purified B cells produced increasingly higher numbers of immunoglobulin- (Ig) secreting cells, whereas in co-cultures of autologous B and T cells a profound suppressor T cell activity inhibited further B cell activation after 10 to 12 days in culture. No such T cell-mediated inhibitory effect was seen in cultures of lymphocytes obtained from normal adults seronegative for EBV, indicating a correlation between the suppressor effect with evidence of prior immunity to this virus. The T cell-mediated suppression in patients with infectious mononucleosis is characterized by an early-acting inhibitory effect on B cell differentiation that is not specific in that all polyclonal B cell activators are inhibited, whereas in EBV-seropositive normal subjects suppression is delayed in time and affects only EBV-activated cultures. These data indicate that after infection with EBV, immunoregulatory T cells are generated that are capable of inhibiting further EBV-induced activation of autologous B cells and thus may provide an additional unique mechanism of host defense against persisting EBV-infected B cells.