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BookmarkScienceDaily (Sep. 19, 2007) — A new study by Robert Mittler and colleagues from Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, has indicated that the timing of treatment with an immune-modifying drug, relative to when a mouse becomes infected with a virus, is crucial in determining whether the treatment is effective or not.
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If mice were treated with an antibody that stimulates the molecule CD137 (also known as 4-1BB) before being infected, or within 48 hours of being infected, with the virus LCMV Armstrong the immune response failed to clear the virus.
By contrast, if treatment was delayed until more than 72 hours after infection the immune response was enhanced and rapidly cleared the virus. Further analysis revealed that early treatment with CD137-specific antibody caused large numbers of immune cells known as CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to die by day 8 of the infection. These data have important implications for the development of CD137 agonists as vaccine adjuvants, something that is currently ongoing.
Article: Immune suppression or enhancement by CD137 T cell costimulation during acute viral infection is time-dependent
