[33] Human lymphotoxin

This chapter provides an overview of human lymphotoxin. Lymphotoxin is a cytolytic lymphokine produced by lymphocytes of the immune system. Lymphocytes derived from human peripheral blood or tonsils and adenoids when stimulated by mitogens are known to secrete a heterogeneous population of lymphotoxins. Lymphotoxins from the 1788 cell line are purified to homogeneity and characterized. Antibody neutralization results show that lymphotoxins obtained from this cell line are immunologically similar to each other and to those derived from peripheral blood lymphocytes. Furthermore, lymphotoxin is found to be synergistic in its action with various interferons and chemotherapeutic agents. In the chapter, a method is described to purify a human lymphotoxin preparation for chemical and biological investigations. Lymphotoxin bioassay and purification of lymphotoxin is also illustrated in the chapter.