title: Human T lymphocyte clones with killer or natural killer activity.
abstract: We describe a reliable method for obtaining a significantly higher frequency of human cloned T lymphocytes with killer and/or NK-like activity. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were treated with recombinant interferon-gamma (rIFN-gamma) and recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) in a culture medium containing autologous serum and were then cloned by single cell micromanipulation. The cloned T lymphocyte populations were tested simultaneously for their ability to proliferate in response to exogenous IL-2, to exhibit lectin-dependent cytolysis and to kill the tumor cell line K562. Results indicate that the cloning technique allowed each isolated T lymphocyte to undergo cell expansion. Furthermore when T cells were pretreated with rIFN-gamma and rIL-2, 88% of the T cell clones were capable of mediating cytotoxicity in the presence of PHA. Moreover one third of the clones which exhibited lectin-dependent lysis were able to kill K562 target cells.
mesh_terms: D002999:Clone Cells; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma