Detection of Migration Inhibitory Activity in Human Mixed Lymphocyte Cultures

The macrophage migration test represents an in vitro correlate of delayed type hypersensitivity (1). The technique has subsequently been adapted to human peripheral blood leukocyte migration with regard to particulate (2) and water soluble (3, 4) antigens. Inhibition of migration of human peripheral leukocytes has been used as an indication of immunologic reactivity after liver transplantation (5) and after skin grafting (6, 7). Migration is inhibited in mixtures of two cell populations when one of these is sensitized to the transplantation antigens of the other, but direct migration does not demonstrate histoincompatibility since allogeneic mixtures of nonsensitized cells migrate normally (7, 8). It has been proposed, however, that degrees of histoincompatibility between nonsensitized cell types may be measurable by the production of migration inhibition factors (MIF)1 when such cells are cultured together (9).