Cloned LYT-2+ cytolytic T lymphocytes destroy allogeneic tissue in vivo.

The long-accepted notion that alloimmune cytolytic T cells (CTL) mediate transplantation immunity has recently been called into question. In order to ascertain directly whether alloimmune CTL can mediate destruction of foreign tissue, we tested the ability of mouse CTL expanded as cloned populations in vitro to destroy allogeneic skin in vivo. The results of these studies prove unequivocally that cloned Lyt-2+ CTL can perform this task in an immunologically specific, H-2-restricted, and dose-dependent fashion.