SUPPRESSOR CELLS REGULATING THE IN VIVO INDUCTION OF CYTOTOXIC T LYMPHOCYTES AND OF MEMORY CELLS FOR A SECONDARY IN VITRO CMC RESPONSE

Abstract

This chapter discusses the suppressor cells regulating the in vivo induction of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and of memory cells for a secondary in vitro CMC response. CTL are assumed to play a key role in graft rejection and to be potentially important for the host defense against the tumors. Potent in vivo activation occurs in mice in response to solid-tissue allografts but does not occur after injection of allogenic or TNP-coupled spleen cells into the footpads, although such injection can activate memory cells that produce a powerful secondary cell-mediated cytotoxicity response in vitro . The chapter describes an experiment in which mice treated only with CyP and not with TNCB showed background DNA-synthesis in the lymph nodes of less than 10 × 10 and no CTL-responses. Mice that were skin-painted with TNCB but not pretreated with CyP showed an initial small DNA-synthesis response in the lymph nodes that returned to background values by day 5. It was found that these mice did not produce a detectable CTL response.