Rapid loss of perforin and serine protease RNA in cytotoxic lymphocytes exposed to sensitive targets.

We have previously reported that cytotoxic lymphocytes, when exposed to sensitive target cells, temporarily lose their lytic potential. The mechanism leading to this loss of lytic activity is still unknown but it is reversible and the lytic potency can be recovered when the effector cells are incubated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) for 12-14 hr. In this study, we have investigated the regulation of RNA coding for perforin and for two serine proteases, HSP1 and HSP2, in cytotoxic lymphocytes exposed to sensitive targets. Perforin and the two serine proteases are contained in granules of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted and non-MHC-restricted cytotoxic lymphocytes, but their exact role in the lytic mechanism is still debated. Here we used four different human cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTL) as effector cells: an MHC-restricted CTL (SG-CTL), a non-MHC-restricted CTL (IE6), a natural killer (NK)-like cell line (3.3) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. In all effector cells we observed a rapid loss of perforin and of serine protease RNAs within 5 min following the addition of sensitive targets. The effector cells recovered the RNA messages as early as 30 min, although the kinetics of recovery was faster with CTL than with NK-like or LAK effector cells. When we exposed the effector cells to resistant targets we did not detect any loss of perforin or serine protease RNAs. Incubation of the effector cells with cycloheximide, prior to the addition of sensitive targets, did not block message loss, indicating that de novo protein synthesis was not required in this process. Cycloheximide treatment, however, inhibited the recovery of perforin and serine protease RNAs. Taken together, our results indicate that the target-mediated loss of lytic activity in cytotoxic lymphocytes may be a consequence of the down-regulation of perforin or of serine protease transcripts, or both.