# DEGRANULATION FUNCTIONS OF CYTOTOXIC T LYMPHOCYTES

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 1990 · $162,070

## Abstract

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) that have been exposed for several
days to high concentrations of IL-2 either in vitro or in vivo
become highly granular in nature.  Considerable attention has
been focused on the possibility that these IL-2 induced granules
might contain a cytotoxin that could explain how CTLs kill their
target cells.  How such a mechanism would fit into CTL killing in
general is still controversial.  What cannot be questioned,
however, is that CTLs do not undergo a degranulation process
during target cell killing.  The contents of CTL granules have
been only crudely analyzed.  While it is certain that a number of
different serine esterases reside in granules, little else is
known.  We recently began an extensive search for biologically
interesting activities released during CTL degranulation.  We
have defined three activities functionally, and now propose
detailed biological, biochemical and molecular genetic analyses
of these activities.  The three activities we have defined are:
CTL inhibition, which is probably a feedback regulatory mechanism
for controlling CTL function; T helper cell inhibitin, which may
be involved in CD8+ T cell suppression of helper function; and
viral inhibitin, which drastically inhibits the ability of mature
viral particles to infect cells.  Understanding the biochemical
basis of these activities will greatly broaden our understanding
of CTL function.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3125846
- **Project number:** 2R01AI014747-17A2
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **SAM.gov UEI:** RN64EPNH8JC6
- **Principal Investigator:** WILLIAM R CLARK
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1990
- **Award amount:** $162,070
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1978-09-30 → 1992-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3125846

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3125846, DEGRANULATION FUNCTIONS OF CYTOTOXIC T LYMPHOCYTES (2R01AI014747-17A2). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3125846. Licensed CC0.

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