CD8+ T cells from leukemic mice proliferate more vigorously than CD8+ T cells from normal mice. Splenic CD8+ T cells were isolated from normal and leukemic SJL/J mice, 1 week (T-1) or 2 weeks (T-2) after leukemia injection, by magnetic cell separation. T-1 (A) and T-2 (B) cells were cultured at 2 × 105 cells/well in the presence of ConA (2.5 μg/mL), PMA (10 ng/mL) plus ionomycin (300 ng/mL) or anti-CD3 MoAb (2.5 μg/mL) and a feeder layer of 2 × 105 syngeneic, anti-Thy 1.2 and C′-treated and irradiated (2,000 rad) splenocytes. 3H thymidine (1 μCi/well) was added during the last 20 hours of culture. Results are representative of three independent experiments (each experiment included two to three mice) and are shown as the mean and SD of triplicate culture.
