Generation of Polyclonal EBV-Specific CTL Cultures and Clones

Although Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection elicits both CD4- and CD8-positive T-cell responses, a considerable body of experimental evidence indicates that the latter responses play a major role in controlling the number of EBV-infected cells and proliferation of EBV-transformed B-blasts in vivo (1 ,2 ). Recently, cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs) were introduced into clinical practice as an efficient tool for treatment of EBV-associated malignancies (3 ,4 ). This chapter is focused on describing the generation and characterization of EBV-specific CD8-positive cytotoxic T-cells. Primarily, techniques that are used to generate CTLs specific for EBV proteins expressed in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) will be discussed.