Generation, propagation, and variation in cloned, antigen-specific, Ia-restricted cytolytic T-cell lines.

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Since the demonstration that B lymphocytes bear surface immunoglobulin (Ig), while helper T lymphocytes are surface Ig negative but bear the T-cell differentiation antigen Thy-1, attempts have been made to correlate the function of a T cell with the expression of differentiation antigens by that cell. In the mouse and in man, it has been found that the majority of helper T cells bear the T4 (or L3T4a) marker, while suppressor and cytolytic T cells bear the T8 or Lyt-2 surface molecule (Cantor and Boyse 1976; Jandinski et al. 1976; Rheinherz et al. 1979). However, many studies, especially those employing cloned T-cell populations, appear to violate these “rules.” Thus, cells with helper, suppressor, or cytolytic capabilities have been assigned to either of these populations by several investigators (Swain et al. 1981; Thomas et al. 1981). In this report, we will dis-cuss our current work on cytolytic T cells that are antigen-specific, la-restricted, and L3T4a positive (Tite and Janeway 1984a, b; Tite et al. 1985). Such cells also manifest at least some of the functions associated with helper T cells. Our studies indicate that the critical determinant of the function of a T cell is the antigen- nonspecific molecules it produces upon activation by antigen:MHC, not its cell surface antigen phenotype or its specificity for a particular self-MHC molecule. We will present evidence that demonstrates that such cells are found amongst normal T cells, and that previous attempts to demonstrate such cells probably failed for technical reasons having to do with assay conditions and target-cell susceptibility.KeywordsSpleen Cell51Cr Release AssayCytolytic FunctionDrain Lymph Node CellMitogenic LectinThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.