Mixed Lymphocyte Culture for the Generation of Allospecific CTL

Abstract

The mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) is an effective means by which to generate allospecific cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL). Detailed methods and discussions of methodological considerations have been published for setting up MLC for use in assessing the proliferative repsonse to alloantigenic stimulation (Bradley, 1980; Kruisbeek and Shevach, 1991) and for inducing CTL (Grabstein, 1980; Wunderlich and Shearer, 1991). The preparation of cultures for the generation of CTL is virtually identical to that used to assess proliferative responses. The exception is that cells recovered after culture are assessed for lytic activity, and therefore MLC used to generate CTL often contain larger numbers of cells than those used to assess proliferative responses.