T-CELL-DEPENDENT ANTIBODY-RESPONSE TO STAPHYLOCOCCAL-ENTEROTOXIN-B

Treatment of mice with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) induces spec ific T-cell tolerance to this superantigen, characterized by partial d eletion 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. Imm unization of mice with SEB results in a detectable anti-SEB antibody r esponse. Upon further treatment of mice with SEB, specific antibody le vels increase significantly and the response is accelerated-characteri stics 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, IgGI and IgG2b isotypes, s uggesting that Th2 cells provide B cell help in this response. These d ata demonstrate that at the same time as inducing in vitro unresponsiv eness, SEB primes SEB-specific T helper cells to provide help for B ce lls in a secondary antibody response.