Killing of measles virus-infected cells by human cytotoxic T cells

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Abstract
Lymphocytes from normal individuals were tested for the capacity to generate measles virus-specific cytotoxic T cell responses after in vitro stimulation with measles virus. Of the normal adults tested, .apprx. 12% produced significant cytotoxic responses. The cytotoxic response was measles virus specific both at the level of stimulation and at the effector level. Studies of the specificity of cytotoxic effectors from 5 normal donors by direct lysis or cold target inhibition or both indicated that most, if not all, of the virus-specific activity was self-specific. A detailed analysis of 1 donor (W6) indicated that measles-specific cytotoxicity was largely HLA-A and -B restricted; unexplained cross-reactive lysis was observed with some targets, but this lysis appeared to be HLA related, since all of the targets expressed HLA-B12. An analysis of the cellular requirements for the production of measles-immune cytotoxic T lymphocytes demonstrated that T cells and macrophages (depleted of natural killer and killer cells) were sufficient for the generation of killer cells. Most of the cytotoxic effector activity was mediated by OKT3+ OKT4- OKT8+ cells.