STREPTOCOCCAL AND STAPHYLOCOCCAL SUPERANTIGENS (ETA, SEB) - PRESENTATION BY HUMAN EPIDERMAL-CELLS AND INDUCTION OF AUTOLOGOUS T-CELL PROLIFERATION INVITRO

Streptococcal and staphylococcal toxins are responsible for skin-relat ed clinical conditions, e.g. scarlet fever and toxic shock syndrome. S kin involvement may result from a hypersensitivity reaction to these t oxins; however, their precise mode of action has still to be elucidate d. The aim of the present study, was to investigate the capacity of hu man epidermal cells to present streptococcal erythrogenic toxin A (ETA ) or staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) to autologous T-lymphocytes in vitro. We found a significant T-lymphocyte proliferation response to minute amounts of ETA (p < 0.01) and SEB (p < 0.02) when co-cultured w ith freshly isolated autologous human epidermal cells. We suggest that human skin may serve not only as an entry for microbial toxin-produci ng strains but also as an important target for streptococcal and staph ylococcal toxin-binding and subsequent T cell proliferation.