Frequency and cross-reactivity od cytolytic T lymphocyte precursors reacting against male alloantigens.
It is well established that cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for the male minor histocompatibility antigen (H-Y) are generated by restimulation in vitro of in vivo primed spleen cells from C57BL/6 (H-2b) female mice with syngeneic male spleen cells. When tested on target cells from H-2 different strains, the male-specific C57BL/6 CTL populations exhibited significant lysis of DBA/2 (H-2d), A (H-2a), but not C3H (H-2k), male and female target cells. In an attempt to document this cross-reactivity further at the clonal level, a sensitive technique of limiting dilution analysis was used to determine the specificity of C57BL/6 individual CTL precursors (CTL-P) reactive against the male antigen. The mean frequency of anti-H-Y CTL-P in spleens of primed female mice was about 1/3500. Between one-third to one-tenth of these CTL-P produced a progeny that cross-reacted with H-2d (allogeneic) female target cells. These findings were confirmed by the analysis of the reactivity pattern exhibited by male-specific CTL clones derived by limiting dilution. Of 99 clones tested, 13 were found to cross-react with female DBA/2 target cells. These results thus indicate that a relatively large proportion (greater than 10%) of H-2b CTL-P directed against the H-Y antigen cross-react with target cells expressing H-2d alloantigens in the absence of H-Y antigen.
D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000276:immunology; D003429:Cross Reactions; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes; D005260:Female; D006182:H-Y Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*
D000939:Epitopes; D006182:H-Y Antigen