Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1992 Aug 1;176(2):575–579. doi: 10.1084/jem.176.2.575

Memory T cells are anergic to the superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B

PMCID: PMC2119322  PMID: 1500861

Abstract

We have used staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) to study the role of naive and memory T cells in the induction of peripheral tolerance. After administration of SEB to mice, the numbers of naive and memory T cells increase, as does the proportion of memory T cells, which are unresponsive to further stimulation with SEB in vitro. In addition, memory T cells generated in response to conventional antigen, which proliferate and provide help to B cells in the presence of the conventional antigen, fail to respond to superantigen. Hence, memory T cells, in general, are anergized by SEB. These results suggest that SEB- induced activation and anergy reflect the combined responses of naive and memory T cells. The differential activation vs. anergy of naive and memory T cells by superantigen may be related to cytokine production and may play an important role in the etiology of autoimmune diseases or immunodeficiency diseases such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (490.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bazin H., Xhurdebise L. M., Burtonboy G., Lebacq A. M., De Clercq L., Cormont F. Rat monoclonal antibodies. I. Rapid purification from in vitro culture supernatants. J Immunol Methods. 1984 Feb 10;66(2):261–269. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(84)90337-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bill J., Yagüe J., Appel V. B., White J., Horn G., Erlich H. A., Palmer E. Molecular genetic analysis of 178 I-Abm12-reactive T cells. J Exp Med. 1989 Jan 1;169(1):115–133. doi: 10.1084/jem.169.1.115. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Herman A., Kappler J. W., Marrack P., Pullen A. M. Superantigens: mechanism of T-cell stimulation and role in immune responses. Annu Rev Immunol. 1991;9:745–772. doi: 10.1146/annurev.iy.09.040191.003525. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Holán V., Lamb J. R., Malkovský M. Immunological tolerance and lymphokines. Crit Rev Immunol. 1991;10(6):481–493. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lee W. T., Vitetta E. S. Limiting dilution analysis of CD45Rhi and CD45Rlo T cells: further evidence that CD45Rlo cells are memory cells. Cell Immunol. 1990 Oct 15;130(2):459–471. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(90)90287-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lee W. T., Vitetta E. S. The differential expression of homing and adhesion molecules on virgin and memory T cells in the mouse. Cell Immunol. 1991 Jan;132(1):215–222. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(91)90020-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lee W. T., Vitetta E. S. Virgin T cells do not provide help for antigen-specific B cells in the absence of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-6. Int Immunol. 1991 Sep;3(9):907–916. doi: 10.1093/intimm/3.9.907. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lee W. T., Yin X. M., Vitetta E. S. Functional and ontogenetic analysis of murine CD45Rhi and CD45Rlo CD4+ T cells. J Immunol. 1990 May 1;144(9):3288–3295. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Leo O., Foo M., Sachs D. H., Samelson L. E., Bluestone J. A. Identification of a monoclonal antibody specific for a murine T3 polypeptide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Mar;84(5):1374–1378. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.5.1374. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lögdberg L., Wassmer P., Shevach E. M. Role of the L3T4 antigen in T-cell activation. I. Description of a monoclonal IgM antibody to a distinct epitope (L3T4b) of the L3T4 antigen and its effect on interleukin 1-induced thymocyte proliferation. Cell Immunol. 1985 Sep;94(2):299–311. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(85)90254-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. MacDonald H. R., Baschieri S., Lees R. K. Clonal expansion precedes anergy and death of V beta 8+ peripheral T cells responding to staphylococcal enterotoxin B in vivo. Eur J Immunol. 1991 Aug;21(8):1963–1966. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830210827. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Marshak-Rothstein A., Fink P., Gridley T., Raulet D. H., Bevan M. J., Gefter M. L. Properties and applications of monoclonal antibodies directed against determinants of the Thy-1 locus. J Immunol. 1979 Jun;122(6):2491–2497. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mueller D. L., Jenkins M. K., Schwartz R. H. Clonal expansion versus functional clonal inactivation: a costimulatory signalling pathway determines the outcome of T cell antigen receptor occupancy. Annu Rev Immunol. 1989;7:445–480. doi: 10.1146/annurev.iy.07.040189.002305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Noelle R. J., Snow E. C. Cognate interactions between helper T cells and B cells. Immunol Today. 1990 Oct;11(10):361–368. doi: 10.1016/0167-5699(90)90142-v. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rammensee H. G., Kroschewski R., Frangoulis B. Clonal anergy induced in mature V beta 6+ T lymphocytes on immunizing Mls-1b mice with Mls-1a expressing cells. Nature. 1989 Jun 15;339(6225):541–544. doi: 10.1038/339541a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rellahan B. L., Jones L. A., Kruisbeek A. M., Fry A. M., Matis L. A. In vivo induction of anergy in peripheral V beta 8+ T cells by staphylococcal enterotoxin B. J Exp Med. 1990 Oct 1;172(4):1091–1100. doi: 10.1084/jem.172.4.1091. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Sarmiento M., Glasebrook A. L., Fitch F. W. IgG or IgM monoclonal antibodies reactive with different determinants on the molecular complex bearing Lyt 2 antigen block T cell-mediated cytolysis in the absence of complement. J Immunol. 1980 Dec;125(6):2665–2672. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Staerz U. D., Rammensee H. G., Benedetto J. D., Bevan M. J. Characterization of a murine monoclonal antibody specific for an allotypic determinant on T cell antigen receptor. J Immunol. 1985 Jun;134(6):3994–4000. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Webb S., Morris C., Sprent J. Extrathymic tolerance of mature T cells: clonal elimination as a consequence of immunity. Cell. 1990 Dec 21;63(6):1249–1256. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90420-j. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. White J., Herman A., Pullen A. M., Kubo R., Kappler J. W., Marrack P. The V beta-specific superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B: stimulation of mature T cells and clonal deletion in neonatal mice. Cell. 1989 Jan 13;56(1):27–35. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90980-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Yagi J., Baron J., Buxser S., Janeway C. A., Jr Bacterial proteins that mediate the association of a defined subset of T cell receptor:CD4 complexes with class II MHC. J Immunol. 1990 Feb 1;144(3):892–901. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES