REDUCTION OF LUPUS NEPHRITIS IN MRL/LPR MICE BY A BACTERIAL SUPERANTIGEN TREATMENT

The effects of biweekly intravenous injections of Staphylococcus Enterotoxin B (SEB) into autoimmune MRL-lpr/lpr (MR-L/lpr) mice were investigated. Rather than causing the expansion of V-beta-8+ T cells, SEB administration resulted in the reduction of V-beta-8+, CD4- CD8- "double-negative" (DN) T cells. This was shown by FACS(R) analysis as this putative pathogenic population was diminished in both spleen and lymph node. The symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in MRL/lpr, which include high titers of anti-DNA antibodies and circulating immune complexes and proteinuria, were reduced in SEB-treated mice in a dose-dependent manner. The clinical parameters of SLE in MRL/lpr, which include lymph node hyperplasia and necrotic vasculitis, were suppressed in 50-mu-g SEB-treated mice. T cells bearing V-beta-6 T cell receptor, which does not interact with SEB, were not reduced with SEB administration. Thus, disease suppression was associated with a specific reduction in the number of V-beta-8+, DN T cells. These results implicate a possible therapeutic role of superantigen-based immunotherapy in V-beta-restricted, T cell-dominated clinical syndromes.