Meeting report on T-cell colony growth in semisolid media: significance and possible applications

The First International Workshop on T-cell colonies in semisolid media has released some important applications of the method: (a) it should be a very useful tool for the study of the different steps of T-cell differentiation and their control mechanisms; (b) it may provide methods for the induction and initial cloning of functional subsets of mature T cells before subsequent expansion in liquid culture; (c) such cloned T cells may be used not only as a source of functional cells and lymphokines, but also to screen otherwise undetected subgroups of the major histo-compatibility complex as well, hopefully for immunotherapy of malignancies and autoimmune or infectious diseases; (d) the study of lymphocyte colony formation should be complementary to investigations dealing with other lineage precursors (CFU-GM, BFU-E, CFU-E, CFU-Meg) for the monitoring of hemopoiesis in a variety of immunohematological disorders.