Presence of T cell-associated surface antigens on murine NK cells.

The expression of T cell-associated surface antigens on natural killer (NK) spleen cells of C57BL/6 mice was evaluated by cytotoxic depletion experiments with alloantisera prepared against the Thy 1, Ly 1, Ly 2, Ly 5, Ly 6, and NK 1 antigens. The NK activity of these nonimmunized spleen cells for YAC-1 leukemia cells was dramatically reduced by antisera to the Ly 5 and NK 1 antigens. Variable results were obtained with anti-Ly 6 sera--certain pools of this antiserum decreased the NK activity, whereas other pools showed only negligible effects. The NK activity of the same cell suspensions was not affected by antisera to the Thy 1, Ly 1, and Ly 2 antigens. In parallel tests the T cell-associated cell surface antigens of alloimmune T killer cells were similarly evaluated by cytotoxic depletion experiments. In this case, the activity of these cells was consistently diminished by antisera to the Thy 1, Ly 2, Ly 5, and Ly 6 antigens, but not by antisera to the Ly 1 and NK 1 antigens. On this basis it was concluded that the NK cells expressed a restricted subset of T cell-associated alloantigens and therefore may have been derived from the T cell lineage of lymphocytes.