Studies on the Interactions between Viruses and Lymphocytes

Abstract

The study of immunity to viruses has made some remarkable contributions to our present understanding of immune mechanisms. Historically, the first descriptions of the delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction and of immunologic memory were given by Jenner in 1798 in his “An Enquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae vacciniae,” in which he observed, “It is remarkable that variolus matter, when the system is disposed to reject it, should excite inflammation more speedily than when it produces the Small Pox.” In 1908, von Pirquet reported the suppression of tuberculin hypersensitivity caused by intercurrent infection with measles. Most recently, the histocompatibility antigen restrictions on activation and effector activities of T lymphocytes derive from the work of Doherty et al. (1976) on cell-mediated immunity to LCM and ectromelia infection.