Tumor-specific T cells undergo endogenous activation during immune reconstitution of the tumor-bearing transplant recipient.
BALB/c mice were challenged intravenously with 1 × 106 A20HA cells or remained tumor-free. Ten days later, half the mice were irradiated and transplanted with T-cell–depleted BALB/c marrow mixed with marrow from HA-specific TCR transgenic mice (10:1 ratio), plus splenocytes containing 1% CD4+ TCR clonotype-positive transgenic T cells. The other half received a similar number of HA-specific TCR transgenic T cells without irradiation. The animals were killed 21 days later. Nylon wool–purified splenic T cells were analyzed by 2-color flow cytometry staining for CD4 versus anti-HA TCR clonotype. Three mice were included per group. Shown are representative FACS plots from individual mice in each group.
