title: T cell-dependent antibody response to staphylococcal enterotoxin B.
abstract: Treatment of mice with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) induces specific T-cell tolerance to this superantigen, characterized by partial deletion of V beta 8+ T cells in vivo and T cell anergy in vitro. In this study we examined the humoral response to SEB in BALB/c mice. Immunization of mice with SEB results in a detectable anti-SEB antibody response. Upon further treatment of mice with SEB, specific antibody levels increase significantly and the response is accelerated--characteristics of a secondary humoral response. The secondary antibody response is T cell dependent, can be transferred to T cell deficient mice with splenocytes and is composed mainly of IgM, IgG1 and IgG2b isotypes, suggesting that Th2 cells provide B cell help in this response. These data demonstrate that at the same time as inducing in vitro unresponsiveness, SEB primes SEB-specific T helper cells to provide help for B cells in a secondary antibody response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Aroeira
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mengel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D017637:Clonal Deletion; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000276:immunology*; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes / Q000276:immunology; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D018089:Superantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes; D018089:Superantigens; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal