Specific cytotoxic T cells eliminate cells producing neutralizing antibodies

IN medically important infections with cytopathic viruses, neutralizing antibodies are generated within 6–14 days. In contrast, such protective antibodies appear late (50–150 days) after infection with immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) in humans, or lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) in mice 1–6 . However, during these infections, non-neutralizing antibodies appear much earlier 2,6,7 . It has been proposed that T cells suppress antibody responses generally and against viruses in vitro 6,8–10 . Here we show that the suppression of neutralizing-antibody responses in LCMV infections in mice is due to selective infection of neutralizing-antibody-producing B cells by this non-cytopathic virus, and their subsequent destruction by virus-specific cytotoxic T cells. Such specific B-cell elimination that leads to a delay in neutralizing-antibody production could help to establish persistent virus infections by non-cytopathic viruses.