Bacterial superantigens induce T cell unresponsiveness in B cell-deficient mice.
Bacterial superantigens such as staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) cause in vivo a profoud and long-lasting state of unresponsiveness in ligand-reactive T cells. To test whether presentation of SEB by small resting B cells to ligand-reactive T cells is essential for the induction of T cell unresponsiveness, we analyzed the effect of SEB in B cell-deficient mice. We observed T cell deletion and T cell unresponsiveness in both B cell-deficient mice and control mice. We conclude that presentation of SEB by resting B cells is not a prerequisite for the induction of T cell unresponsiveness in vivo.
D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018089:Superantigens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects*
D004768:Enterotoxins; D018089:Superantigens; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal