Functional heterogeneity in allospecific cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones. III. Direct correlation between development of syngeneic cytotoxicity and loss of veto activity; implications for the mechanism of veto action.

Two veto active allospecific cytotoxic T-cell clones (CTL), 4A2 and 4B3, were studied for the development of autoreactivity. The 4A2 CTL became autoreactive within 6 days when cultured without appropriate allospecific stimulator cells, whereas the 4B3 CTL retained its alloreactivity without becoming autoreactive when cultured under these conditions. Simultaneously with the development of autoreactivity, the 4A2 CTL lost its veto activity. Limiting dilution cultures of normal allospecific 4A2 CTL cells and autoreactive 4A2 CTL cells and mixtures of both showed that the former CTL cells were capable of inhibiting clonal growth of the autoreactive CTL cells in a dose-dependent manner. We suggest that this growth inhibition reflects veto activity, i.e. cells capable of growing are inhibited by autorecognition of veto active allospecific 4A2 CTL cells. Taken together, the present results indicate that the existence of intraclonal down-regulation of potentially autoreactive cells is a normal feature of allospecific cytotoxic T-cell clones.