Relationship between enterotoxic- and T lymphocyte-stimulating activity of staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

The enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus cause a gastrointestinal intoxication probably via their action on intramucosal neuronal cells. Staphylococcal enterotoxins are also the most powerful mitogens known, activating CD3+ T lymphocytes of several species in a clonally variable and MHC class II-dependent fashion. We examined a possible relationship between enterotoxic and mitogenic activity of staphylococcal enterotoxin serotype B (SEB). We used a monoclonal anti-Id directed against the combining site of an anti-SEB mAb. This anti-Id failed to elicit an enteric response by itself but could block the enteric response in monkeys to a 6000-fold excess of SEB. The anti-Id was mitogenic, however, for human and monkey T cells, triggering a fraction of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Not all SEB-reactive T cells were activated by the anti-Id. The anti-Id bound to T cells with a similarly low affinity as did SEB. Additional evidence for a separation of enterotoxic and mitogenic activity comes from studies with carboxymethylated SEB. Although this modified SEB had lost its enterotoxic activity, it was as mitogenic as the unmodified molecule. These results support the notion that the enteric reaction to SEB is not mediated via its effect on T lymphocytes. We conclude that SEB and anti-Id might bind to a common structure of different receptors on T cells and target cells in the intestinal mucosa, probably peripheral sensory neurons.