Figure 4.
SAg-treated mice display a loss of S107 VH family–specific μ rearrangements in the spleen. (A) RT-PCR/Southern blot surveys of VH-μ transcript expression were performed using splenic RNA. Different VH FR1–specific primers were used to amply transcripts from families of clan I (J558), clan II (Q52), and clan III (S107, J606, and 7183), and results for several major VH families are shown. Results for BALB/c mice treated as neonates are shown, but similar results were also obtained for mice treated as adults then evaluated 1 mo later (not shown). Relative β-actin content is demonstrated by staining with Sybr Green Dye II (Molecular Probes). For each treatment group, signals for fivefold serial dilutions of splenic cDNA from two different mice are demonstrated. Nonspecific posttreatment increases were also documented for μ transcripts of the Vgam3 and X24 families (not shown). (B) Quantitative assays of splenic S107-μ transcripts for groups that received neonatal or adult treatment are displayed. Relative S107 C T values were calculated using the untreated group as the denominator. Replicate values displayed <10% coefficient of variation (not shown). +, mean values for each group. For comparisons with control protein-treated groups, significance is indicated as follows: ****P < 0.001.
