Escape of hybridomas from cellular defense mechanisms: an in vitro study using autologous and allogeneic lymphocytes.

This study revealed that a hybridoma cell line made from an adenocarcinoma of the colon and autologous enucleated peripheral lymphocytes shared antigenicity of the fusion partners. The hybrid cells could be grown in BALB c nu/nu mice, forming a solid tumor. Gating out hybridoma cells with both CEA and T3 antigens by means of cytofluorometer cell sorting and using them as target cells in a cytotoxicity assay against autologous and allogeneic lymphocytes, the susceptibility for cell-mediated lysis within the cultured hybridoma cells was already lost. These findings suggest that transferred membrane component(s) (T3 antigen) from enucleated lymphocytes are candidates for functional regulator(s) in cell-mediated lysis.