Human mixed lymphocyte culture using separated lymphocyte populations.

The ability of human blood lymphocyte populations enriched with T or B cells to act as responder and stimulator populations in the one-way mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was investigated. T- and B-cell-enriched populations were obtained by separation of rosette-forming and non rosette-forming cells and T-cell-enriched populations were also obtained by nylon-fibre column filtration. Using cells prepared by rosette sedimentation, control unseparated and T-cell-enriched populations responded well when stimulated by mitomycin C-treated unseparated cells from a second individual; and stimulation by T- and B-enriched populations generally produced some response, although the magnitude was variable. B-cell-enriched populations gave virtually no response regardless of the composition of the stimulating populations. Nylon-column-enriched T-cell populations responded to stimulation by control unseparated cells but not to T cells purified by the same procedure. T-cell enriched populations prepared by the two methods thus had different activities in the MLR despite containing similar numbers of T cells suggesting that other factors, such as the presence of small numbers of accessory cells, are important in determining the magnitude of the MLR.