Unique lectin-binding characteristics of cytotoxic T lymphocytes allowing their distinction from natural killer cells and "K" cells.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) can be selectively depleted from in vitro of in vivo alloactivated populations of T cells on Vicia villosa lectin adsorbents through the lectin-specific interaction with the CTL-associated surface glycoprotein T 145 (Kimura, A, Wigzell, H. and Holmquist, G., J. Exp. Med. 1979. 149: 473). Results from these and other experiments have demonstrated the general applicability of this fractionation procedure in which no constraints related to antigenic specificity of the CTL have been observed. When this fractionation procedure was applied to other compartments of cytolytic cells (natural killer cells and "K" cells), no detectable impact could be seen. This differential lectin binding would appear to offer a means of dissecting the activities of CTL from other compartments of cytolytic lymphoid cells.