Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus induces a chronic wasting disease in mice lacking class I major histocompatibility complex glycoproteins.

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) induces a chronic, wasting syndrome when injected intracerebrally into H-2b mice homozygous for a beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2-m (-/-)) gene disruption. These mice have very few CD8+ T cells and express little class I MHC glycoprotein, though minimal levels of the H-2Db molecule have been detected on in vitro cultured beta 2-m (-/-) cells. The underlying immunopathological process in these beta 2-m (-/-) mice is mediated by virus immune CD4+ effectors. However, adoptively transferred CD8+ T cells from normal, LCMV-infected H-2Db compatible donors induce significant (but low level) meningitis in beta 2-m (-/-) recipients. Such mice develop neither the neurological disease characteristic of LCM nor the persistent, though generally non-fatal, debility that occurs when only the CD4+ T cell subset is involved.