E rosette formation by human t lymphocytes: a spontaneous cell mediated cytotoxic phenomenon

The nature and significance of spontaneous association between unsensitized human T lymphocytes and sheep erythrocytes has been studied in relation to a possible cytotoxic reaction. Human lymphocytes and 51Cr labelled sheep erythrocytes when mixed in ratios of 5 or 10:1 released 70-100% of 51Cr into the supernatants. This suggests that E rosette formation may be the first step in a spontaneous T cell mediated cytotoxic reaction to sheep erythrocytes.