Ulrich R G, Bavari S, Olson M A
Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease, Frederick, Maryland, USA.
Trends Microbiol. 1995 Dec;3(12):463-8. doi: 10.1016/s0966-842x(00)89011-3.
All bacterial superantigens use common structural strategies to bind to major histocompatibility complex class II receptors, while binding the T cell antigen receptor in different ways. Overstimulation of the immune response is responsible for the acute pathological effects, while reactivation of developmentally silenced T cells might result in autoimmune disease. Certain diseases might be controlled with superantigens or genetically attenuated vaccines.
