Mediation of cellular recruitment in vivo by functionally distinct T cell clones

The ability of functionally distinct alloreactive T cell clones to mediate cellular recruitment in vivo was examined in a modified sponge matrix allograft model. Changes in cellular recruitment to paired healed s.c. urethane sponge grafts injected with cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL), helper, or helper-independent CTL clones, or bulk resting mixed leukocyte culture (MLC) cells, and allogeneic or syngeneic blasts were studied. Injection of indium-111-labeled unsensitized cells i.v. was used to assess cellular recruitment to the graft site. All three alloreactive T cell clones and bulk MLC cells mediated preferential recruitment of circulating labeled cells when injected with allogeneic cells. The helper clone mediated significantly greater recruitment than the CTL clone. These results confirm at the clonal level our previous observations that populations of allosensitized cells enriched for either cytolytic or noncytolytic T lymphocytes can mediate cellular recruitment in vivo and extends them to include helper-cell-independent cytolytic T lymphocytes.