RV cells are as efficient as PBLs in generating viral-specific cytotoxic effectors.

PBLs (A) and RV cells (B) were stimulated against autologous irradiated EBV-LCL (triangles) or CMV-infected fibroblasts (circles and squares). Cytolytic activity was measured in a cold inhibition cytotoxic assay at different effector/target (E/T) ratios against the same targets (closed symbols). As negative control, cytolytic activity against autologous PHA-derived lymphocytes (experiments with EBV-LCL) and autologous noninfected fibroblasts (experiments with CMV) was measured (open symbols). (C) Specific lysis of PBLs (open symbols) and RV cells (closed symbols) stimulated with autologous irradiated CMV-infected fibroblasts against autologous EBV-LCL infected with rVV-pp150 (triangles), rVV-pp65 (squares), or rVV-pp72 (circles) is shown.