Preferential homing of passively transferred T cells into skin allografts of mice.

An assay which uses two differentially labeled cell populations was used to characterize the preferential localization of passively transferred syngeneic cells immunized to specific alloantigens. Splenocytes cytotoxic to B10.D2 and B10.BR alloantigens were harvested from (C57BL/6 X A/J)F1 (B6AF1) donors bearing acutely rejected skin allografts. One population was labeled in vitro with 3H-thymidine and the other with 14C-thymidine. The labeled cells were pooled and then transferred i.v. into B6AF1 hosts bearing 5-day-old skin grafts from B10.D2 and B10.BR donors. After 48 hr the mice were killed, and the relative amount of cells present in the skin grafts and draining axillary lymph nodes was derived by comparing the 3H:14C ratios of the harvested tissues. The results of these studies indicated that cytotoxic splenocytes harvested from donors bearing acutely rejected skin allografts preferentially localize to the relevant skin allograft after passive systemic transfer. The homing behavior of these splenocytes was augmented by T cell enrichment and significantly diminished by pretreatment with anti-Thy-1.2 serum plus rabbit complement. There was no evidence of preferential homing within the draining axillary lymph nodes. It can be concluded that a T cell population derived from in vivo sensitized splenocytes exhibits preferential homing to relevant skin allografts upon passive transfer.