Murine Thymocytes Mediate a Natural Killer‐Like Activity against Herpes Virus‐Infected Target Cells but Not YAC‐1 Target Cells

In this report, we demonstrated a natural killer (NK)‐like activity against HSV‐1 infected ceils mediated by CD‐1 mouse thymocytes. This cytolytic activity is specific for HSV‐1‐infected MCN cells, since both uninfected MCN and Y AC‐1 target cells are not susceptible to thymocyte lysis. Antibody plus complement depletion experiments indicate that a portion of the activity is associated with the Lyt 2 /L3T4− thymocyte subpopulation. This NK‐like activity cannot be enhanced by addition of interleukin 2 in vitro.