[Role of virus-induced cytotoxic autoreactive T-lymphocytes and T-suppressors in the pathogenesis of an experimental infection in mice cause by the Langat virus].

In the spleens of mice experimentally infected with Langat virus there accumulate precursors of autoreactive cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (ARctl) which differentiate into mature lymphocytes when inoculated into the popliteal lymph nodes of syngeneic intact recipients. ARctl inoculated intravenously into the intact or Langat virus-infected syngeneic mice produce a fatal autoimmune disease characterized by the affection of the liver and spleen. Inoculation of ARctl into the infected recipients is accompanied by the nonspecific suppression of the immune response and transformation of the asymptomatic Langat infection into an acute one. The thymus of the infected mice contains T-suppressors which inhibit ARctl differentiation and prevent the development of the autoimmune disease and transformation of the asymptomatic infection into the acute.