Apoptotic cell death of primed CD45RO+ T lymphocytes in Epstein-Barr virus-induced infectious mononucleosis

The expansion of activated T cells, characterized by the expression of CD45RO as well as HLA-DR antigens, is a central feature in acute infectious mononucleosis (IM) induced by primary infection of Epstein- Barr virus (EBV). However, the fate of these activated T cells in this disease is not clearly understood. We found that, on simple culture, a large proportion of T cells isolated from acute IM patients died rapidly, but only a few T cells from normal individuals did. Morphologic observations and DNA fragmentation analysis showed that the loss of viability of IM T cells after incubation was mediated by apoptosis. IM T cells undergoing apoptosis resided exclusively in the CD45RO+ populations of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, most of which were shown to coexpress apoptosis-related Fas antigen. Some cytokines such as interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-5, and IL-6 could rescue IM T cells from apoptotic cell death. The results seemed to imply that most of primed (CD45RO+) T cells in acute IM might be subject to apoptotic cell death, possibly when leaving from the local sites actively producing certain soluble factors required for their survival. Our studies suggest the programmed cell death of peripheral mature T cells as a mechanism of antigen-driven selection.