In the past few years, there has been a virtual explosion of information on the viral and bacterial molecules now known as superantigens. Some structures have been defined and the mechanism by which they interact with MHC class II and the V beta region of the T cell receptor is being clarified. Data are accumulating regarding the importance of virally encoded superantigens in infectivity, viral replication, and the life cycle of the virus. In the case of MMTV, evidence also suggests that superantigens encoded by a provirus may be maintained by the host to protect against future exogenous MMTV infection. Experiments in animals have also begun to elucidate the dramatic and variable effects of superantigens on responding T cells and other immune processes. Finally, the role of superantigens in certain human diseases such as toxic shock syndrome, some autoimmune diseases like Kawasaki syndrome, and perhaps some immunodeficiency disease such as that secondary to HIV infection is being addressed and mechanisms are being defined. Still, numerous important questions remain. For example, it is not clear how superantigens with such different structures, for example, SEB, TSST-1, and MMTV vSAG, can interact with MHC and a similar region of the TCR in such basically similar ways. It remains to be determined whether there are human equivalents of the endogenous murine MMTV superantigens. The functional role of bacterial superantigens also remains to be explained. Serious infection and serious consequences from toxin-producing bacteria are relatively rare events, and it is questionable whether such events are involved in the selection pressure to maintain production of a functional superantigen. Hypotheses to explain these molecules, which can differ greatly in structure, include T cell stimulation-mediated suppression of host responses or enhancement of environments for bacterial growth and replication, but substantiating data for these ideas are mostly absent. It also seems likely that only the tip of the iceberg has been uncovered in terms of the role of superantigens in human disease. Unlike toxic shock syndrome, other associations, especially with viral superantigens, may be quite subtle and defined only after considerable effort. The definition of these molecules and mechanisms of disease may result in new therapeutic strategies. Finally, it is apparent that superantigens have dramatic effects on the immune system. One wonders whether these molecules or modifications of them can be used as specific modulators of the immune system to treat disease.

Superantigens and their potential role in human disease.

https://www.cell.com/immunity/pdf/S1074-7613(00)80668-8.pdf

Inducible Nonlymphoid Expression of Fas Ligand Is Responsible for Superantigen-Induced Peripheral Deletion of T Cells

Summary Poly- and oligodonal T cell stimuli like anti-CD3e monoclonal antibody or Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB), injected at doses that per se are not lethal, provoke acute death within less than 24 h, provided that endogenous glucocorticoids (GC) are depleted by adrenalectomy or by injection of saturating amounts of the GC receptor antagonist RU-38486 (mifepristone). Pharmacological doses of the GC agonist dexamethasone (DEX) alter the in vivo response of splenic V38 + T cells to SEB, thus impeding the expansion of such cells and causing their rapid (3 d) clonal deletion. In contrast, coadministration of RU-38486 counteracts a SEB-induced early (12 h) reduction of V38+CD4 + and V38+CD8 + spleen cells. In vivo T cell stimulation by injection of bacterial superantigen induces a rapid (peak at 90-120 rain) increase in corticosterone serum levels, suggesting that endogenous GC might control early T cell activation. Accordingly, kinetic studies revealed that RU-38486 has to be administered within 2 h after superantigen administration to exert its lethal effect. Similarly, exogenous GC must be injected during this critical phase (2 h) to rescue animals from acute death induced by coinjection of SEB and D-galactosamine (GAIN). Adrenalectomy, injection of RU-38486 and priming with GaIN per se provoke the programmed death of peripheral CD4 + and CD8 + T cells. Thus, three manipu- lations that sensitize mice for the lethal effect of T cell stimulation also exert a proapoptotic effect on peripheral T cells. In synthesis, endogenous and exogenous GC regulate T cell responses and determine the propensity of peripheral T cells to undergo apoptosis.

/pdf/glucocorticoid-mediated-control-of-the-activation-and-clonal-43yino8wth.pdf

Glucocorticoid-mediated Control of the Activation and Clonal Deletion of Peripheral T Cells In Vivo By Jos6 Angel Gonzalo, Ana Gonz lez-Garda, Carlos Martlnez-A.,

TCR stimulation of T lymphocytes that are activated and cycling in the presence of IL-2 leads to programmed cell death. We now show that this effect is at least partly attributable to the ability of IL-2 to dramatically increase the expression of mRNAs encoding ligands and receptors that mediate apoptosis. We also found that cyclosporin was not able to fully inhibit the TCR induction of death molecule mRNAs or TCR-induced apoptosis, although it could completely turn off IL-2 expression. The effect growth cytokines was further explored in T cells derived from mice bearing a homozygous deficiency of the IL-2R alpha-chain. We found that IL-2Ralpha-/- cells were resistant to death if IL-2 was used to induce apoptosis susceptibility, but that large amounts of other T cell growth cytokines, such as IL-4 and IL-7, could induce cell cycle progression and promote TCR-induced apoptosis. However, our findings suggest that autoimmunity and lymphoproliferation in IL-2Ralpha-/- mice can result from the loss of IL-2 stimulated feedback apoptosis and that other growth cytokines are not produced at levels sufficient to compensate for this deficit.

T Cell Growth Cytokines Cause the Superinduction of Molecules Mediating Antigen-Induced T Lymphocyte Death

Publisher Summary The powerful immunosuppressive activity of ciclosporin (CS), which is apparently restricted at the cellular level of certain T lymphocytes, is recognized as a breakthrough in immunopharmacology. CS is a potent inhibitor of chronic or immune-mediated inflammatory reactions, but has no effect in models of acute inflammation. Its importance for exploring the pathogenesis and treatment of some acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, generally grouped as suspected autoimmune.diseases, is clearly emerging in the clinic. The use of CS in the treatment of several such diseases has revealed its potential to counteract the imbalance of the immune system by improving the condition of both experimental animals and patients. After a difficult learning process in which the efficacy and the side effects of the drug were explored, CS has proved to be of permanent clinical value and has, in consequence, revitalized the field of organ transplantation. In contrast to classical immunosuppressants, CS exerts a specific action on lymphocytes but is not detrimental to the functions of phagocytes or hemopoietic stem cells. Besides being an immunosuppressive drug, CS is also widely used as an experimental probe in basic research. While evidence for this concept is compelling, various phenomena in vivo are not readily explained by this model. This review shows that in vitro several pathways can be used to induce gene transcription in lymphocytes. Whether the alternative pathways, that is, those bypassing the T-cell receptor, are also relevant in vivo remains another question. However, only the pathways involving mobilization of intracellular calcium are CS-sensitive.

In Vivo Pharmacological Effects of Ciclosporin and Some Analogues

Cyclosporin A (CsA) is a well-known immunosuppressive agent that modulates immune tolerance in many ways. CsA can give rise to a state of long-term nonimmunosuppressed transplantation tolerance, but it can also aggravate autoimmune diseases, and provoke specific forms of autoimmunity. These effects, which are often paradoxical, remain largely unexplained. In this study, we investigated the effects of CsA on superantigen (superAg)-reactive peripheral T cells. The intravenous injection of either staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), or Mls-1a cells into Mls-1b recipients, causes long-term in vitro nonresponsiveness (anergy) and partial elimination of the peripheral T cell receptor (TCR) V beta 8+/CD4+ and -V beta 6+/CD4+ T cell subsets, respectively. We report that CsA markedly enhances the peripheral elimination of SEB- and Mls-1a-reactive T cells such that up to 90% of the targeted CD4+/V beta subpopulations are deleted. The degree of deletion depends on the dose and the schedule of CsA administration, and the number of superAg injections. In situations where the extent of deletion is only moderate, we find that the remaining superAg-reactive T cells fail to develop anergy, unlike the T cells of control superAg-immunized mice. Higher doses of CsA are required to enhance T cell deletion (greater than or equal to 25 mg/kg/d, i.p.) than to impair anergy induction (greater than or equal to 6.25 mg/kg/d, i.p.). In view of these results, it appears that the degree of tolerance in CsA/superAg-treated mice depends on the balance between these opposing effects, i.e., enhancement of peripheral elimination versus the abrogation of anergy. The possibility of enhancing or preventing immune tolerance with a drug may have important clinical implications.

/pdf/cyclosporin-a-markedly-enhances-superantigen-induced-1ueqasr7xz.pdf

Cyclosporin A markedly enhances superantigen-induced peripheral T cell deletion and inhibits anergy induction.

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Cyclosporin A markedly enhances superantigen-induced peripheral T cell deletion and inhibits anergy induction.