title: Depression of prothymosin alpha production in murine thymus correlates with staphylococcal enterotoxin-B-induced immunosuppression [corrected].
abstract: Prothymosin alpha [corrected] (ProT alpha) and thymosin beta 4 [corrected] (T beta 4) were isolated from murine thymus and characterized by microsequence analysis. Murine T beta 4 has an identical sequence to bovine T beta 4, whereas murine ProT alpha is highly homologous to rat Pro T alpha. Murine Pro T alpha differs from rat Pro T alpha at two positions, Glu100 and Asp108 of the rat sequence are substituted by aspartic and glutamic acid, respectively, in murine Pro T alpha. The amount of Pro T alpha in murine thymus was found to be reduced after in vivo treatment with staphylococcal enterotoxin B [corrected] (SEB), a superantigen which stimulates T cells bearing specific V beta receptors. Results from the anti-SRBC (sheep erythrocyte) plaque-forming cell assay showed that the antibody response of the spleen cells from these animals was also suppressed. On the other hand, the amount of T beta 4 was not changed significantly. Our studies suggest that the suppression of SEB on antibody response correlates with the depression of Pro T alpha production in the thymus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, National Cheng Kung University Medical College, Tainan, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Low
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D051381:Rats; D012016:Reference Values; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013947:Thymosin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D000099201:Thymosin beta(4)
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D013947:Thymosin; D000099201:Thymosin beta(4); C040782:prothymosin alpha; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal