Interferon-γ-independent CD8+ T cell-mediated protective anti-malaria immunity elicited by recombinant adenovirus

Recombinant adenovirus, expressing the CS protein of Plasmodium yoelii, AdPyCS, was shown to induce a comparable degree of T cell-mediated protection against malaria as a single dose of irradiated P. yoelii sporozoites, causing inhibition of liver stage development. We now report that differently from sporozoite-induced immunity, interferon (IFN)-gamma does not mediate the protective immunity induced by AdPyCS, since a similar degree of protection was observed in AdPyCS immunized mice lacking IFN-gamma(-/-) and the IFN-gamma receptor (IFN-gamma R-/-) compared to that in wild-type mice. Depletion of CD8(+) T cells from these immunized mice almost completely abolished the AdPyCS-induced immunity, indicating that the immunization with AdPyCS induces CD8(+) T cell-mediated protective anti-malaria immunity, which is independent of IFN-gamma.