Alphavirus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes recognize a cross-reactive epitope from the capsid protein and can eliminate virus from persistently infected macrophages.

Persistent alphavirus infections in synovial and neural tissues are believed to be associated with chronic arthritis and encephalitis, respectively, and represent likely targets for CD8+ alphabeta cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Here we show that the capsid protein is a dominant target for alphavirus-specific CTL in BALB/c mice and that capsid-specific CTL from these mice recognize an H-2Kd restricted epitope, QYSGGRFTI. This epitope lies in the highly conserved region of the capsid protein, and QYSGGRFTI-specific CTL were cross reactive across a range of Old World alphaviruses. In vivo the acute primary viraemia of these highly cytopathic viruses was unaffected by QYSGGRFTI-specific CTL. However, in vitro these CTL were able to completely clear virus from macrophages persistently and productively infected with the arthrogenic alphavirus Ross River virus.