The study demonstrates that isolated antigen-specific T cell lines can mediate autoimmune encephalomyelitis in vivo, allowing for the study of biological function and antigen specificity.
The isolation and propagation of functional antigen-specific lines of T lymphoblasts is described. These lines were found to recognize foreign or self antigens in association with accessory cells of syngeneic major histocompatibility complex genotype. Intravenous inoculation of a T cell reactive only against myelin basic protein led to development of clinical paralysis in syngeneic rats. Thus, it is possible to study biological function as well as antigen specificity using T cell lines.
Ben‐Nun et al. (1981) studied this question.