The Journal of Immunology, Vol 144, Issue 6 2089-2095, Copyright © 1990 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Molecular requirements for T cell activation by the staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1

SD Norton, PM Schlievert, RP Novick and MK Jenkins
Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis 55455.

The activation of Ag-specific, Ia molecule-restricted, TCR V beta 3+ T cell clones by staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1), was investigated. The results show that although Ag- and TSST-1-induced activation of T cell clones both require TCR expression and similar biologic activation signals, the Ia molecule requirement for TSST-1 recognition was much less stringent than that observed for antigenic peptide recognition. In addition, T cell clones recognized TSST-1 without processing by APC. These results suggest that the ability of TSST-1 to polyclonally activate T cells is dependent on TCR recognition of the intact toxin molecule bound to a nonpolymorphic region(s) of the Ia molecule resulting in the same activation events induced by Ag recognition.

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