Comparison of the relative cytotoxic effector cell capabilities and the proportions of cells bearing various surface markers in human tonsil and peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The relative cytotoxic effector cell capabilities and the proportions of cells bearing various surface markers in human tonsil and peripheral blood mononuclear cells has been studied. The peripheral blood contained a substantial proportion of monocytes (22 +/- 2.9%) compared to tonsil cell suspensions (2.5 +/- 0.3%). The percentages of T lymphocytes was significantly higher in the blood than in the tonsil (P is less than 0.01); however, the percentages of cells forming rosettes with 7S EA were not significantly different in each group (P greater than 0.5). Mitogen-induced cellular cytotoxicity by blood and tonsil mononuclear cells against Chang cells was proportional to the percentages of T lymphocytes in these cell suspensions, and both antibody-dependent and mitogen-induced cellular cytoxicity against sheep red blood cells was proportional to the percentages of monocytes in these suspensions. Tonsil mononuclear cell suspensions were incapable of mediating antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against Chang cells, whereas blood mononuclear cells functioned normally. These findings are in contrast to the findings of similar percentages of Fc receptor-positive lymphocytes in blood and tonsil mononuclear cell suspensions. Previous studies have shown that the effector cells against antibody-coated Chang cells are Fc receptor-positive lymphocytes. These studies show that in the case of cytotoxicity mediated by an Fc receptor-bearing lymphoid cell, there may be a clear discrepancy between the relative proportions of Fc-bearing lymphoid cells in different organs and the relative levels of cytotoxicity.