Immune T cells reactive against human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus.

Six patients with malignant disorders associated with human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV) were studied to see whether long-term cultures of immune T cells reactive against HTLV-infected tumour cells could be achieved. Immune T-cell lines could not be developed from the cells of five patients who died or eventually had a relapse of disease, but in one patient who had an unusually long remission of his disease after therapy, immune T-cell lines were propagated that could produce their own T-cell growth factor and proliferate upon stimulation with autologous tumour cells and also specifically lyse HTLV-infected target cells. These immune T cells recognised the presence of circulating HTLV-bearing neoplastic cells in another patient with HTLV-associated T-cell leukaemia, who had been in clinical remission after chemotherapy when this study started, thereby providing early evidence of relapse.