BY55 monoclonal antibody delineates within human cord blood and bone marrow lymphocytes distinct cell subsets mediating cytotoxic activity

We had previously reported, using BY55 monoclonal antibody, a cell surface 80 -kDa protein restricted to human functional peripheral blood cytotoxic lymphocytes with either natural killer CD3^- or cytotoxic T lymphocyte CD3⁺CD8⁺ phenotype. In the present report, we studied the cytotoxic lymphocytes in adult bone marrow and newborn cord blood as these organs are commonly used as sources of hematological stem cells for allogeneic transplantation. Our results showed that BY55 mAb labeled only 5-10% of the bone marrow lymphocytes, which included a major proportion of CD3⁺CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Interestingly, within cord blood cells, BY55⁺ lymphocytes represented 20-35% of the lymphocytes corresponding exclusively to a CD3^- cell subset. Furthermore, we detected in cord blood no cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity but we demonstrated that the CD3^-BY55⁺ cell subset contained the whole natural killer activity.