Abstract
Preferential cytotoxic activity against rubella-infected target cells was discovered in the supernatants of rubella virus-stimulated human lymphocytes from rubella-seropositive but not seronegative donors. Supernatants from unstimulated lymphocyte cultures failed to show such activity. Assay of cytotoxic activity of lymphocyte culture supernatants against rubella-infected and uninfected human fibroblast cells, using cell counting in microplates, provided a method for studies of cell-bound immunity in rubella. This assay was more sensitive in detecting remote past immunity to rubella than was lymphocyte stimulation with rubella virus as measured by uptake of C-14-thymidine. Good correlation between the two methods was found when development of immunity was followed during the course of rubella infection and vaccination. By both tests, lymphocytes from rubella vaccinees became responsive to rubella antigen 4 weeks after vaccination. This late detection of specific cell-mediated immunity may be due to rubella virus-induced immunosuppression after vaccination, an early and transient phenomenon demonstrable by phytohemagglutinin-unresponsiveness of the lymphocytes.
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Vesikari, T., Kanra, G., Buimovici-Klein, E. et al. CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY IN RUBELLA ASSAYED BY A CYTOTOXICITY TEST AND BY LYMPHOCYTE STIMULATION. Pediatr Res 8, 420 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00481
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00481
