Resistance of cytotoxic T lymphocytes to lysis by a clone of cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

To investigate how cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) avoid killing themselves when they destroy target cells, we compared 20 different cell lines as target cells, including several CTL cell lines, for their susceptibility to lysis by CTL. Variations in recognition of this diverse set of target cells was circumvented by attaching to all of them a monoclonal antibody to the antigen-specific receptor of a cloned CTL cell line (clone 2C) and using the 2C cell line as the standard aggressor or effector cell. All of the nine tumor cell lines and the four noncytolytic T-helper cell lines tested as targets were highly susceptible to lysis by the aggressor CTL, but seven cytotoxic T-cell lines (six CTL and one T-helper cell line with cytotoxic activity) were largely resistant. These results, and the use of the lectin Con A as an alternative means for triggering CTL activity, point clearly to a level of resistance that could enable CTL to avoid their own destruction when they lyse target cells. The resistance of the cytolytic T cells did not appear to be accompanied by a similar resistance to complement-mediated lysis, indicating that mechanisms of CTL-mediated and complement-mediated lysis are not identical.