title: Study of the biological activities of toxic shock syndrome toxin-1: II. Induction of the proliferative response and the interleukin 2 production by T cells from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with the toxin.
abstract: Toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) is an exotoxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients with toxic shock syndrome. We investigated the proliferative response of human lymphocytes and their interleukin 2 (IL-2) production after stimulation with TSST-1 in vitro. Human cord blood mononuclear cells (HCBM) and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (HPBM) could proliferate with TSST-1 stimulation. T cell-depleted HPBM showed only a marginal response to this toxin. A IL-2-like factor with a molecular weight of 15-18 kD was obtained from the supernatants of TSST-1-stimulated HPBM cultures. The factor was absorbed by CTLL-2 cells but not by T cell-depleted murine spleen cells, indicating that it is IL-2. HPBM are very sensitive to TSST-1: a low concentration of TSST-1 (0.01 ng/ml in 36 h stimulation) and a short period of stimulation (8 h at 10 ng/ml of the toxin) were fully effective for HPBM to produce substantial amounts of IL-2. Removal of T cells abrogated the TSST-1-induced IL-2 production by HPBM. Reconstituted cell cultures of nylon wool column-passed T cells and macrophages produced IL-2 by TSST-1 stimulation and, furthermore, the accessory activity of the macrophages could be partially replaced by a macrophage-derived factor containing interleukin 1. These findings indicate that T cells require macrophages or IL-1 for TSST-1-induced production of IL-2. The roles of lymphokines, including IL-2, in the development of this illness are discussed.
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007700:Kinetics; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008938:Mitosis; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus; D018089:Superantigens; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D007376:Interleukin-2; D018089:Superantigens; C030107:enterotoxin F, Staphylococcal