Evaluation of dye exclusion and colony inhibition techniques for detection of polyoma-specific, cell-mediated immunity.

Cellular immunity directed against polyoma virus-induced antigen was observed with C3H/HeJ splenic lymphoid cells from mice sensitized by a short-term immunization schedule with syngeneic polyoma 4198 and 4198V tumor cells. Polyoma specificity of the response was shown by demonstration that splenic cells from DBA/2J animals with polyoma virus-induced tumors were cytotoxic for the C3H 4198 and 4198V cells, but not for the L-M cell, another cell line of C3H origin. The polyoma-specific response in the syngeneic system was detectable with the dye exclusion assay but not with the colony inhibition procedure. Colony inhibition with the L-M cell was observed with sensitized lymphoid cells in both allogeneic and syngeneic systems.