Generation of Cytotoxic T Cells Against EBV Infected B Lymphocytes

Specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) are indispensable for the study of cellular immune mechanisms against EBV infected cells, and for detection and characterisation of possible CTL target structures. We describe here the generation and partial characterisation of EBV specific CTL lines in an autologous system and show that 1) stimulation of T cells by lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) leads initially to a high percentage of natural killer (NK) cells which, however, disappear after continuous stimulation for 12–30 weeks; 2) immediate early gene products may be possible target antigens for CTLs; 3) CTLs can differentiate between cells infected by different strains of EBV.