Cunningham C M, Watson D W
Infect Immun. 1978 Feb;19(2):470-6. doi: 10.1128/iai.19.2.470-476.1978.
The effect of purified streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins (SPE) on the antibody response to sheep erythrocytes was studied in cultures of mouse spleen cells. Purified SPE types A, B, and C shared the ability to suppress the day 4 direct plaque-forming cell response when added to cultures. SPE A and C were most suppressive at concentrations of 0.1 to 1 ng per culture, while SPE B was active at 1 microgram per culture. Pretreatment of mice with SPE A, 3 h before removal of their spleens for culture, also produced suppression. Cell populations were separated from spleens of normal and toxin-treated mice and recombined in culture to test the cellular site of action of SPE immunosuppression. When nonadherent cells (lymphocytes) and adherent cells (macrophages) from control and SPE-treated mice were separated and recombined, the plaque-forming cell response depended on the source of lymphocytes. Macrophages from toxin-treated mice functioned normally in the presence of control lymphocytes. In a further experiment, toxin pretreatment failed to suppress the plaque-forming cell response of spleen cells that were T-cell depleted and reconstituted with control thymocytes. When the T lymphocytes were removed from toxin-treated spleen cell suspensions, the remaining cells were able to respond normally to antigen if normal helper T cells were provided. The results suggest that the suppressive activity of SPE on antibody production is mediated by altered activity of T lymphocytes.
在小鼠脾细胞培养物中研究了纯化的链球菌致热外毒素（SPE）对绵羊红细胞抗体应答的影响。当添加到培养物中时，纯化的A、B和C型SPE具有共同的抑制第4天直接空斑形成细胞应答的能力。SPE A和C在每培养物0.1至1纳克的浓度下抑制作用最强，而SPE B在每培养物1微克时具有活性。在取出脾脏进行培养前3小时用SPE A预处理小鼠，也会产生抑制作用。从正常和经毒素处理的小鼠脾脏中分离细胞群体，并在培养物中重新组合，以测试SPE免疫抑制的细胞作用位点。当将来自对照和经SPE处理的小鼠的非贴壁细胞（淋巴细胞）和贴壁细胞（巨噬细胞）分离并重新组合时，空斑形成细胞应答取决于淋巴细胞的来源。在对照淋巴细胞存在的情况下，经毒素处理的小鼠的巨噬细胞功能正常。在进一步的实验中，毒素预处理未能抑制T细胞耗竭并用对照胸腺细胞重建的脾细胞的空斑形成细胞应答。当从经毒素处理的脾细胞悬液中去除T淋巴细胞时，如果提供正常的辅助性T细胞，剩余的细胞能够对抗原正常应答。结果表明，SPE对抗体产生的抑制活性是由T淋巴细胞活性改变介导的。
