Nature of "memory" in T-cell-mediated antibacterial immunity: anamnestic production of mediator T cells.

Mice that survived an immunizing infection with Listeria monocytogenes remained specifically resistant to lethal secondary infection for several months. This acquired, long-lived state of resistance was not dependent on activated macrophages that remained after the primary response. It depended, instead, on an acquired long-lived capacity on the part of immunized mice for generating mediator T cells faster and in larger numbers than normal mice. The number of mediator T cells generated in response to secondary infection was proportional to the level of infection. The results suggest that the accelerated production of mediator T cells that occurs in response to secondary infection represents the expression of a state of immunological T-cell memory.