Bovine alloreactive cytotoxic cells generated in vitro: target specificity in relation to BoLA phenotype.

Cytotoxic cells of bovine origin were generated in primary MLC using stimulator cells of BoLA w8/w11 phenotype. Bovine lymphoblasts transformed by the protozoan parasite Theileria parva parva acted as target cells in studies of the specificity of cytotoxicity. When responder cells in MLC did not share w8 or w11 with stimulator cells, cytotoxicity was evident with all targets bearing w8 or w11, or both, and was almost entirely restricted to these products of the BoLA-A locus. When responder and stimulator cells shared both w8 and w11, cytotoxicity was also generated. Whether this was specific for the products of other putative Class I loci in cattle, or for the products of a Class II region, remains to be determined. These results suggest that the determinants recognized by appropriately generated bovine alloreactive cytotoxic cells are identical with, or closely related to, determinants characterized by BoLA w8 and w11 defining alloantisera.