Detection of antigens specific for B-lymphoid cultured cell lines with human alloantisera.

Human sera were tested for cytotoxicity to pairs of long-term tissue-cultured cell lines. Each pair had been derived from the same individual and one of the pairs possessed the characteristics of either "T" or "B" cells. The alloantisera used were HL-A-typing reagents or sera obtained from Amish multiparas. Selected cytotoxicity was found against the B-cell lines by direct testing. Cytotoxicity was abolished by absorption with B-cell line but not by absorption with the T-cell lines. The results suggest that a group of allotypic antigens may be expressed exculsively on human B cells.