Mechanism of target cell lysis of cytolytic T lymphocytes. I. Characterization of specific lymphocyte-target cell conjugates separated by velocity sedimentation.

Differential velocity sedimentation was applied for separating alloimmune T lymphocytes bound to target cells (TC) from free lymphocytes. Maximal size differences between lymphocytes and TC were achieved a) by isolating the fraction of small peritoneal lymphocytes (SPL) from an alloimmune peritoneal cell population, and b) by selecting large tumor cells as TC. Under the conditions used, most of the conjugates formed at room temperature consisted of one SPL bound to one TC, and adequate separation of bound from free SPL could be achieved within less than 5 min. Functional studies of the conjugate-enriched fractions showed that a minimum of 60% of TC-bound SPL were indeed cytolytic. Conjugate-depleted fractions, however, were still lytic, suggesting that not all effector cells formed stable conjugates at room temperature. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that binding between SPL and TC was achieved through interpenetrating membrane projections and was characterized by point and broad zone contacts. When lysis was allowed to proceed, prominent changes of the TC membrane morphology, including loss of microvillous projections, appearance of localized blebs, pseudopod-like projections, and membrane defects were documented.