Cell-mediated immune responses in vitro. III. Elimination of specific cytotoxic lymphocyte responses by 3H-thymidine suicide.

The role of cellular proliferation in the development of cytotoxic lymphocyte (CL) responses in one-way mixed lymphocyte reactions was investigated by using tritiated thymidine of high specific activity to kill proliferating cells. To develop maximum CL responses, responding lymphoid cells must proliferate for approximately 72 hr; thereafter, precursors of CL appear to differentiate into active CL without further proliferation. Different alloantigen-sensitive precursor cell populations participate in the CL responses to each of two sets of stimulating alloantigens. When cells responding to one set of alloantigens were selectively destroyed after incorporating the hot thymidine, the surviving cells retained the capacity to develop a normal CL response to the second set of alloantigens.