Clonal Repertoires of Virus-Specific CD8+ T Lymphocytes Are Shared in Mucosal and Systemic Compartments during Chronic Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Rhesus Monkeys

Because it is thought that mucosal tissues play a fundamental role in early HIV/SIV infection, it is crucial to understand the virus-specific responses in mucosal tissues to facilitate devising strategies to prevent and control these infections. We have employed TCR repertoire analyses to define the clonal composition of a dominant SIV epitope-specific CD8(+) T cell population in mucosal and systemic compartments of SIV-infected rhesus monkeys during both acute and chronic infection. We show that the CD8(+) T cell repertoire in mucosal tissues of uninfected rhesus monkeys is oligoclonal, whereas the CD8(+) T cell repertoire in blood is polyclonal. Early postinfection, the SIV-specific CD8(+) T cell clonal repertoire is distinct in mucosal compartments and peripheral blood. However, we observed a narrowing of the virus-specific CD8(+) T cell clonal repertoire in all sampled anatomic compartments as infection progressed from acute to chronic, and there was comparable clonal diversity in all anatomic compartments. We showed during chronic infection that the same clonal populations of virus-specific CD8(+) T cells are present in all compartments. These data indicate that the SIV-specific CD8(+) T cells in systemic and mucosal sites have a shared clonal origin and are, therefore, capable of both responding to infection in the systemic circulation and trafficking to mucosal tissues.