Isolation of a thymus-homing Lyt-2-, L3T4- T-cell line from mouse spleen.

We have selectively isolated and transformed a population of T-cell-receptor+, Lyt-2-, L3T4- cytotoxic T cells from mouse spleen following stimulation in vivo with a radiation leukemia virus-induced thymoma, C6VL/1. The two sublines analyzed here were found to induce tumors with primarily thymic involvement and one of these has been shown to have specific homing capacity for the thymus. Properties displayed by this cell line are evidence that T cells do exist in peripheral lymphoid tissue which can traffic back to the thymus and that Lyt-2-, L3T4- immature T cells can enter peripheral lymphoid organs.