Lymphocyte transformation induced by autologous cells. V. Generation of immunologic memory and specificity during the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction.

Lymphocyte proliferation in vitro may follow antigen recognition and serve as a correlate of cell-mediated immunity. Lymphocyte proliferation can also be simulated by nonimmune mechanisms as, for example, following culture with plant lectin, lipopolysaccharides, or staphylococcal protein A (1). The autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) refers to the proliferation of T lymphocytes cultured with autologous mon-T lymphocytes (2,3). The purpose of this study was to determine whether lymphocyte proliferation in the autologous MLR results from immune or nonimmune mechanisms. We have shown that the autologous MLR has two classical attributes of an immune phenomenon: memory and specificity.