Production of IL2 and induction of IL2 receptor: two independent and dissociable events during allogenic stimulation in vitro in man

Donors from HLA genotyped families are extremely useful for immunogenetic studies. Analysis of the in vitro allogenic response of lymphocytes from HLA recombinant siblings can dissect the respective role of HLA class I and class II antigens for the lymphocyte activation. Using lymphocytes from such donors, we have demonstrated that IL2 production is triggered by HLA class II disparities (but not by HLA class I), HLA class I disparities can prime the cytotoxic T lymphocytes precursors inducing the IL2 receptor on the specific clones which will proliferate in presence of IL2 either from endogenous origin (in the case of HLA class II disparities) or from experimentally added IL2 in the culture.