CD28 B7 PATHWAY COSTIMULATES THE RESPONSE OF MURINE T-CELLS TO SUPERANTIGENS AS WELL AS TO CONVENTIONAL ANTIGENS/

While the CD28/B7 pathway has been shown to play an important costimul atory role in the response of T cells to conventional antigens, its ro le in superantigen-mediated T cell activation has not been as clear. I n this report, we used CD4(+) T cells from ovalbumin-specific alpha be ta-TCR-transgenic mice (DO 11.10) to compare the ability of this pathw ay to costimulate the response of primary T cells to conventional anti gens and superantigens. We show that either the addition of anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody or presentation with a B7 transfected cell line en hances the proliferative and interleukin-2 secretion response of D011. 10 CD4(+) cells to both the conventional antigen, ovalbumin peptide (O VA 323-339), and the superantigen SEB. This implies that CD28-mediated costimulation plays a role in the response of murine T cells to super antigens as well as to conventional antigens. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.