Immunization-Induced Anaplasma marginale-Specific T-Lymphocyte Responses Impaired by A-marginale Infection Are Restored after Eliminating Infection with Tetracycline

摘要

Infection of cattle with Anaplasma marginale fails to prime sustained effector/memory T-cell responses, and high bacterial load may induce antigen-specific CD4 T exhaustion and deletion. We tested the hypothesis that clearance of persistent infection restores the exhausted T-cell response. We show that infection-induced T-cell exhaustion, characterized as loss of antigen-specific proliferation, and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) production are partially restored in cattle following clearance of persistent infection with tetracycline.