B7-1(CD80)-transfected human glioma cells and interleukin-12 directly stimulate allogeneic CD8+ T cells.

To obtain more effective cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), we examined the effect of B7 costimulation and interleukin-12 (IL-12) on the induction of allogeneic CTLs. Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) or positively selected human CD8+ T cells (purity > 99%) from healthy donors were used as effector cells, and B7-1-transfected or nontransfected U251 human glioma cells (U251-B7 or U251-Vec.) were used as stimulator cells. In mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) with PBLs and U251 cells, nonspecific natural killer (NK) activity was raised by addition of IL-12, and the effect of B7 costimulation was not observed. However, in MLC with CD8+ T cells, efficient proliferation, generation of CTLs, and cytokine production were induced by MLC with U251-B7 in the presence of IL-12. Efficient generation of CTLs was not induced by either MLC with U251-B7 alone or the addition of IL-12 alone. Our results indicate that a combination of B7-1 costimulation and IL-12 is effective for inducing generation of CTLs, and that the CD8+ T cells can be differentiated into CTLs without the help of CD4+ T cells or antigen-presenting cells or both.