Selective antilymphocyte sera (SAL) in bone marrow transplantation. I. In vitro characterization of antihuman SAL and the development of absorption procedures using cultured cell lines.

In experimental animals, graft-versus-host reactions can be prevented, even in fully MHC-allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) by in vitro elimination of mature T cells and their committed precursors from donor bone marrow with a selectively lymphocytotoxic heterologous antiserum. Application of this concept to clinical BMT has previously been hampered by the lack of antibodies of appropriately selective specificity. We describe here the production and characterization of highly selective lymphocytotoxic antisera against mature human T cells and lymphoid precursors using cultured cell lines.