IN-VITRO TUMOR-CELL GROWTH-INHIBITION - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY BETWEEN ALLOSENSITIZED CYTOTOXIC T-LYMPHOCYTES AND LYMPHOKINE-ACTIVATED KILLER-CELLS

There is general agreement that several distinct subpopulations of lymphocytes, including major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted T lymphocytes and non-restricted natural killer, or lymphokine-activated killer (LAK), cells are active in lysing neoplastic cells. In this study experiments were designed to compare the inhibitory effects of LAK cells and allosensitized cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) on in vitro growth of an Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B-cell line (BSM) and of a HTLV-I producer T-cell line (MT-2). It was found that allosensitized CTL are more efficient at inducing BSM, or MT-2, cell growth inhibition than LAK cells. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that MHC-restricted T effector cells could mediate higher tumour suppressive effects than non-MHC restricted LAK cells.