Epstein-Barr virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes as probes of HLA polymorphism. Heterogeneity of T cell-restricting determinants associated with the serologically defined HLA-A2 antigen.

Epstein-Barr (EB) virus-specific effector T cell lines were established from nine virus-immune donors positive for the serologically defined HLA-A2 antigen; of these, four lines contained a demonstrable A2-restricted cytotoxic component. When these four effector populations were each tested on the same panel of EB virus-transformed lines from 20 HLA-A2-positive individuals, 16 of the target cell lines were consistently killed at levels above 25% of the relevant autologous cell lysis. Cytotoxicity appeared to be mediated through a restricting determinant associated with the 'common A2' antigen that these lines shared; indeed the lysis could be specifically blocked by high concentrations of an HLA-A2-specific monoclonal antibody. In contrast, 4 out of 20 target cell lines were not killed by HLA-A2-restricted effector cells, even though they did express the serologically defined A2 antigen and were found in other tests to be susceptible to EB virus-specific cytolysis restricted through other HLA-A or -B antigens on their surface. These results suggest that EB virus-specific cytotoxic T cells can distinguish between serologically identical HLA-A2 molecules via the heterogeneity of their T cell-restricting determinants. Data from one of the effector cell populations further suggested that a serologically defined cross-reaction between the otherwise distinct HLA-A2 and -Bw57 antigens might also be reflected in a cross-reactivity of T cell-restricting determinants.