Alloreactive cytotoxic T cells induce DNA fragmentation in peritoneal macrophages: evidence for target cell killing by cytotoxic T cellsin vivo

摘要

AbstractThis report addresses the question whether cytotoxic T cells can cause target cell deathin vivoby examining target cell DNA fragmentation. The results show that alloreactive cytotoxic T cells induced significant DNA fragmentation in peritoneal macrophagesin vivoand that the DNA fragment was a multiple of 180 ± 30 bp. Furthermore, the effector cells which caused this characteristic DNA fragmentation were CD8+T cells. These results demonstrate that cytotoxic T cells can cause target cell deathin vivo