Immunotherapy of murine sarcomas with interleukin 2. II. Activation of killer cells by human recombinant IL-2.

Highly purified human recombinant interleukin 2 induced cytotoxicity in mouse spleen cells against mouse sarcoma cells when added during the 51Cr microcytotoxicity assay. It elicited similar levels of killer cell activation as did human lymphoid (Jurkat leukaemia-derived) or mouse lymphoid (EL-4 leukaemia-derived) IL-2 preparations. The susceptibility of six MC-induced mouse sarcomas to the cytolytic effect of lymphokine-activated killer cells was compared. Five (MC11, MC13, MC14, MC15, MC16) of six mouse sarcoma cell lines examined were sensitive in vitro to the LAK cell effect, whereas one cell line (MC12) was resistant. Since the sensitive and resistant target cell lines had been induced with the same carcinogen and in mice of the same genotype, they represent a very useful model for investigation of target cell structures responsible for the sensitivity to the LAK cell effect.