Cytotoxic T-cell and antibody responses to influenza infection of mice.

The immune response to influenza infection was evaluated in mice using recently developed techniques to measure the induction of cytotoxic thymus-derived (T) lymphocytes and complement-dependent cytolytic antibody, locally and systemically, during primary and secondary immunization. Cytolytic antibody responses were compared to antibody titres measured by haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and neutralization in the same samples. The development of these responses was also correlated with the titres of virus in the lung, in an attempt to further define the role of these host immune responses which can kill virus infected cells during recovery from influenza infection in vivo.