Differential lysis of tumor target cells displayed by lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cell clones

Lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells exhibit major histocompatibility complex (MHC) unrestricted cytolysis against a wide variety of fresh and cultured tumor cells. Because previous work from our laboratory suggested that trypsin treatment of unseparated populations of LAK cells had a differential effect on lysis of different tumors, in this report we analyzed the lytic specificity of LAK cell clones against a panel of three different targets: MCA, B16 and YAC-1. We found that 21 out of the 24 analyzed murine spleen and bone marrow clones killed a combination of two, but not all three, of these tumor cells. Determinations of the phenotype of 10 LAK cell clones showed six with rearrangements for the T cell receptor (TCR) beta chain gene, suggesting a T cell origin, and four with germ line configurations for the TCR beta and delta chain genes, a result consistent with a non-T cell lineage. This cloning procedure provided an experimental tool to develop new procedures of adaptive immunotherapy.