Induction of cytotoxic lymphocytes directed against public alloantigens.

The response of H-2k lymphocytes to in vitro stimulation by H-2b and HI2d spleen cells has been monitored for the production of cytotoxic lymphocytes (CL). Using cells from H-2b strains CL which were capable of lysing both H-2b and H-2d target cells (TC) were generated. These results, together with competitive inhibitor studies of the cytotoxic activity against H-2d TC, demonstrated that T lymphocytes can respond to both public and private alloantigens of the H-2 complex. When H-2d cells were used for stimulation two of the three strains tested induced CL with cytotoxic activity towards both H-2d and H-2b TC. These observations indicate that the T cell response to alloantigen, leading to the production of cytotoxic lymphocytes, can be multicomponent like the established B cell response and can be expected to be subject to as much phenotypic variation. The full complexity may only be revealed by examing a number of combinations of stimulating strains, methods of stimulation and different kinds of target cells.