INVITRO CELLULAR-RESPONSE OF HUMAN-LYMPHOCYTES TO TRINITROPHENYLATED AUTOLOGOUS CELLS - HLA-D RESTRICTION OF PROLIFERATION BUT APPARENT ABSENCE OF HLA RESTRICTION OF CYTOLYSIS

Primary as well as secondary proliferative and cytotoxic responses to 2,4,6‐trinitrophenyl (TNP)‐modified autologous human cells have been studied. Proliferativeresponses have been obtained both by primary (peak on day 6) and secondary (peakon day 2–3) stimulation. Both responders and nonresponders were found among thepanel of unrelated individuals tested. All responders in a secondary reaction also gavesignificant primary responses. Intrafamilial studies showed that the ability to restimulate a proliferative response followed the major histocompatibility complex haplotypeof the responder; in some cases, the two haplotypes differed in their ability to restimulate. Using unrelated individuals typed for HLA‐A, B and C, as well as HLA‐D and DR, proliferation was shown to occur only when the unrelated stimulator shared HLA‐Dregion products with the responder. In contrast, no HLA restriction was found in cell‐mediated lympholysis (CML)(neither in primary nor in secondary responses) in most cases. The data suggest thatthe observed killing is independent of sensitization. Both responders and nonresponders in proliferation yielded high levels of lysis; no increase of lysis was found in kineticstudies; most allogeneic CML combinations were highly lytic for the TNP‐modifiedresponder cells at a time when the lysis of the specific allogeneic target is negligible. These preliminary data suggest that the killing observed might be different fromclassical T cell‐mediated lympholysis. Copyright © 1979 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim