|
The staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) secreted by
Staphylococcus aureus include SEA, SEB, SEC1, SEC2, SEC3, SED
and SEE. These toxins are primary causes of food poisoning and
shock in man and animals. In immune system, SEs are potent T
cell activators, and have recently been termed "superantigen".
SEB can cause proliferation, anergy, or deletion of specific T
cells by binding directly to MHC class II molecules and murine
TCR Vβ alleles 7, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3. proliferation in various
strains of mice have been evaluated. We demonstrated that SEB
induced thymocyte apoptosis in BALB/c, B10.D2 (H-2d) and B10.
BR, C3H/HeJ, C3H/HeN (H-2k) mice, whereas there was no
significant effect in B6, B10, A.BY (H-2b) and A.SW (H-2s)
mice. This was shown by the changes in thymus weight,
thymocyte number, and percentage of CD4+CD8+ cells as compared
to the saline- or PBS-treated control. In contrast,
adminstration of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) to B6 mice
could lead to thymus atrophy and decrease in the number of CD4+
CD8+ cells. Furthermore, in the magnitude of changes in thymus
weight, thymocyte number, thymocyte subpopulations and the DNA
fragmented bands, (BALB/c x B6)F1 (H-2dxb) mice exhibited a
level between BALB/c and B6 mice after SEB administration. The
monoclonal antibody against I-E was more effective than anti-I-
A antibody on inhibition of SEB-induced thymus atrophy in BALB/
c mice. These results suggest that expression of I-E molecule
on antigen-presenting cell may play an important role in the
SEB-induced thymocyte apoptosis.
|