SERUM ENHANCES THE EX-VIVO GENERATION OF HIV-SPECIFIC CYTOTOXIC T-CELLS

The ex vivo expansion of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines is being developed for immunotherapy of viral infections and ca ncer and is critically dependent on the precise cell expansion and sti mulation conditions. In this article, we investigate medium requiremen ts for the development of HIV-specific CTL in cell lines generated fro m the peripheral blood of seven asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals. We find that HIV specific CTL do not readily develop in the serum-fre e medium AIM V but do develop if the medium is supplemented with 1% pl asma or serum. T cell lines with antigen-specific cytolytic activity e xpress more cell-surface CD57 than do cell lines grown in the absence of serum or plasma. Three sources of serum (human autologous, human AB , or fetal calf) are comparable. Human plasma is somewhat less effecti ve than serum from an identical source. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, In c.