Alloreactive cytotoxic T cells induce DNA fragmentation in peritoneal macrophages: evidence for target cell killing by cytotoxic T cells in vivo.
This report addresses the question whether cytotoxic T cells can cause target cell death in vivo by examining target cell DNA fragmentation. The results show that alloreactive cytotoxic T cells induced significant DNA fragmentation in peritoneal macrophages in vivo and that the DNA fragment was a multiple of 180 +/- 30 bp. Furthermore, the effector cells which caused this characteristic DNA fragmentation were CD8+ T cells. These results demonstrate that cytotoxic T cells can cause target cell death in vivo.
Liu
Y
Y
Division of Cell Biology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra.
Waring
P
P
Müllbacher
A
A
D000818:Animals; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004249:DNA Damage; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*
D006183:H-2 Antigens