Programmed Death-1 expression on Epstein Barr virus specific CD8+ T cells varies by stage of infection, epitope specificity, and T-cell receptor usage

Programmed Death-1 (PD-1) is an inhibitory member of the CD28 family of molecules expressed on CD8+ T cells in response to antigenic stimulation. To better understand the role of PD-1 in antiviral immunity we examined the expression of PD-1 on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epitope-specific CD8+ T cells during acute infectious mononucleosis (

These observations suggest that PD-1 expression is not only dependent on the degree of antigen presentation, but also on undefined characteristics of the responding cell that segregate with epitope specificity and V-beta usage.