RAT T-CELL RESPONSES TO SUPERANTIGENS .2. ALLELIC DIFFERENCES IN V-BETA-8.2 AND V-BETA-8.5 BETA-CHAINS DETERMINE RESPONSIVENESS TO STAPHYLOCOCCAL-ENTEROTOXIN-B AND MOUSE MAMMARY-TUMOR VIRUS-ENCODED PRODUCTS

The previous paper in this series demonstrates that rat T cells developing de novo in the presence of mouse mammary tumor virus (Mtv) antigens in rat --> severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse xenochimeras display a distinct pattern of V beta-restricted deletion; this deletion pattern is remarkably similar to that occurring during thymic development of mouse T cells in Mtv(+) strains. In addition, T cells developing in the absence of Mtv antigens in these rat --> mouse xenochimeras are tolerant of host antigens, but show strong primary proliferative responses in cultures stimulated with Mtv-7(+) (Mls(a)) mouse cells; like the mouse, these rat T cell responses are dominated by V beta 6 and V beta 8 T cells. Here, we continue analysis of rat T cell responses to superantigens; we show that T cells from Lewis and Fischer 344 rats expressing V beta 8.2 display an important all-or-nothing difference in their responses to Mtv-7 superantigens. This all-or-none strain difference in the response to Mtv-7 applies also to the response by V beta 8.2 and V beta 8.5 T cells to the soluble superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B. Because these two rat strains express different alleles of these two V beta 8 family members, this finding identifies additional, hitherto unreported residues of the T cell receptor beta chain important in T cell responses to superantigens.