Mechanism of recovery from acute virus infection. II. Effect of treatment of mice with cyclosporin A on their ability to eliminate the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus.

Illness and death of mice infected by intracerebral inoculation with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus are pathologic immune phenomena, and mice thus infected were protected when immunosuppressed with cyclosporin A (CSA), although the virus multiplied extensively in all major organs. Concentrations remained high as long as the drug was administered but declined when the treatment was discontinued; also, cytotoxic T lymphocytes appeared. Virus elimination was slower and cytotoxic T cell activity lower than in mice not previously treated with CSA.