HUMAN MYELIN BASIC-PROTEIN SPECIFIC T-CELL LINES DISPLAY DIFFERENTIALCYTOTOXICITY AGAINST ASTROCYTES, BUT ARE CONSISTENTLY CYTOTOXIC AGAINST MONOCYTES

In experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) myelin basic protein (MBP) specific T cells differ in their encephalitogenic potential. To investigate the functional diversity of human MBP specific T cell line s, we analysed their cytotoxic activity against human astrocytes and m onocytes. Five out of 14 MBP specific T cell lines killed astrocytes i n the presence of MBP. Nevertheless, all lines lysed blood derived mon ocytes. T cell lines that lysed astrocytes efficiently in the presence of MBP, recognized peptide aa 80-99/86-105 in context with HLA-DRB5 0101, peptide aa 50-69/61-83 in context with HLA-DRB11501 and peptid es aa 139-153, and aa 148-162 in context with HLA-DRB1 0101. There w as no correlation of MBP-mediated lysis of astrocytes with TCR-V beta usage, HLA-restriction and the production of tumor-necrosis-factor-alp ha (TNF-alpha), lymphotoxin (LT) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). Dif ferent lysis of astrocytes, however, revealed a functional heterogenei ty of MBP specific T cells, which was not observed by using monocytes as targets. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.