Hematopoietic histoincompatibility reactions by NK cells in vitro: model for genetic resistance to marrow grafts.

In certain strains of mice, bone marrow grafts from parental donors fail to grow in first-generation hybrid mice. This "hybrid resistance" of nonsensitized F1 hybrid mice to the engraftment of parental hematopoietic transplants contradicts the classical laws of transplantation and is dependent on a radioresistant but immunogenetically specific effector mechanism. Studies in a new in vitro model reveal that committed hematopoietic precursors of parental origin can be inactivated by direct contact with natural killer-like splenic effectors from F1 mice. The reaction requires genetically restricted recognition, since only parental competitors syngeneic to the target bone marrow cells partially reversed this inactivation. Models of this type may be useful in studying the possible role of natural resistance in bone marrow transplantation in humans.