Tumors induced by murine sarcoma virus contain precursor cells capable of generating tumor-specific cytolytic T lymphocytes.

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Abstract
Leukocyte fractions extracted from the tumor mass and the lymphoid organs of C57BL/6(B6) mice carrying murine sarcoma-virus-induced tumors contained primed cytolytic T[thymus-derived]-lymphocyte (CTL) precursor cells, in addition to active cytotoxic T cells. These leukocyte fractions gave a secondary response when stimulated in vitro with syngeneic tumor cells, generating large numbers of specific CTL. The activity of these CTL (H-2b) was apparently H-2-restricted, because it was ineffective on tumor targets bearing strongly cross-reacting tumor-specific antigens but with the haplotype. Only H-2b cells bearing the Friend, Moloney, Rauscher-associated antigen, such as Rauscher leukemia virus-induced RBL-5 cells and Friend leukemia virus-induced HFL/b cells, were lysed efficiently. B.male.GV cells (H-2b cells induced by Gross leukemia virus) were not affected by the same CTL. The existence of a dynamic state involving the migration of primed CTL precursor cells between the lymphoid organs and the tumor mass, and the differentiation of these precursor cells within the tumor mass into highly specific CTL was proposed.