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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1987 Jul;84(14):5004–5008. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.14.5004

High activity of N-alpha-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine thiobenzyl ester serine esterase and cytolytic perforin in cloned cell lines is not demonstrable in in-vivo-induced cytotoxic effector cells.

G Dennert, C G Anderson, G Prochazka
PMCID: PMC305235  PMID: 2955414

Abstract

Recent observations have suggested striking similarities between complement-mediated and cell-mediated lysis. Both pathways share the terminal insertion of channels into target membranes, and unique esterases have been postulated to participate in the activation of cytolytic effector molecules. Since killer-specific esterases and channel-forming proteins can be demonstrated in in vitro cell lines, it is important to ascertain that the described esterase and channel-forming proteins are also present in killer cells from in vivo sources. Results presented here show that killer-cell-specific N alpha-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine thiobenzyl ester serine esterase is induced in vitro concomitant with the sensitization of cytotoxic effector cells. In contrast, in-vivo-primed cytotoxic T cells or natural killer (NK) cells fail to express high levels of this enzyme. Assay of different cytotoxic effector cells reveals the presence of N alpha-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine thiobenzyl ester serine esterase in clones with T killer and NK activity, but enzyme levels do not correlate with cytolytic activity nor does inhibition of esterase activity interfere with granule-mediated cell lysis. A similar result is seen with granule-mediated cytolytic activity. Cloned NK and T killer cell lines possess granules that are able to lyse erythrocyte targets. However, T killer cells sensitized in mixed lymphocyte culture or in vivo have no detectable cytotoxic granules. Cytotoxic granules are also not detected in NK cells isolated from animals.

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Selected References

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