Activation of cytotoxic T cells by nonstimulating tumor cells and spleen cell factor(s).

The ability of three cultured mouse tumor lines to stimulate a cytotoxic response in 5-day cultures of allogeneic lymph node cells was studied with a 51Cr release assay. Two lines of mesenchymal origin, P815 and EL-4, were found to be highly stimulatory, whereas the third cell line, CaD2, a mammary gland epithelial tumor, did not stimulate over a wide range of cell concentration. CaD2 cells were shown to contain major antigens similar to those of P815 cells by the specific lysis of both cells by lymphocytes activated to H-2d-bearing peritoneal cells.UV-irradiated P815-cells, like gamma-irradiated CaD2 cells, did not stimulate a cytotoxic response, but both cell lines were found to stimulate a full and specific response to allogeneic lymph node cells if these mixed cultures were supplemented with a supernatant harvested from concanavalin A-stimulated spleen cells.