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The Journal of Immunology, Vol 158, Issue 11 5229-5236, Copyright © 1997 by American Association of Immunologists
ARTICLES |
D Donson, H Borrero, M Rutman, R Pergolizzi, N Malhado and S Macphail
Department of Surgery, North Shore University Hospital, New York University Medical College, Manhasset 11030, USA.
Recent structure-function studies of ours and others indicating that regions of the TCR other than V beta are involved in the TCR- superantigen (SAg)-MHC class II trimolecular interaction were correlative; thus, while the conclusions were persuasive, they were not unequivocal. The transfection experiments described in this report show that 1) responsiveness to staphylococcal enterotoxin B in V beta6 T cells was transferred by a V alpha4- but not by V alpha8- and V alpha10- containing alpha-chain cDNA constructs, 2) responsiveness was not transferred by a chimeric alpha-chain construct containing the N and J regions from a responsive T hybrid clone and the V alpha10 V alpha region from a nonresponsive clone, and 3) responsiveness was transferred by a chimeric alpha-chain construct in which most of the V alpha region (from the N terminus to the C-terminal end of the complementarity-determining region 2) was derived from the V alpha4 alpha-chain of a responsive T hybrid and the rest (framework 3, N, and J) from the V alpha8 alpha-chain of a nonresponsive T hybrid. Thus, these data provide the first direct evidence for a specific SAg response facilitating activity in a defined V alpha segment and map this activity N-terminal of framework region 3. Furthermore, the diversity in the alpha- and beta-chain junctional regions of a panel of staphylococcal enterotoxin B-responsive V beta6 T hybrid clones excludes a stringent corequirement for a particular junctional region for the V alpha4 segment to mediate its facilitating activity. Finally, a model postulating a universal role for V alpha elements in TCR recognition of SAg is presented.
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