Superantigens increase the survival of mice bearing T cell lymphomas by inducing apoptosis of neoplastic cells.

MUNDIÑANO ,J; BERGUER, P; CABRERA, G.; LORENZO D; NEPOMNASCHY, I; PIAZZON I

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2010 vol. 5 p. 1 - 11

1932-6203

AbstractSuperantigens bind to major histocompatibility complex class II molecules and interact with T cells expressing a particular Tcell receptor Vb inducing a strong proliferation/deletion response of the superantigen-reactive T cells. However, there havebeen no attempts to investigate the ability of Sags to induce apoptosis in neoplastic T cells by signaling through the Vbregion of their TCR. In the present study we show that bacterial and MMTV-encoded superantigens induce the apoptosis ofAKR/J cognate lymphoma T cells both in vitro and in vivo. The Fas-Fas-L pathway was shown to be involved in the apoptosisof lymphoma T cells induced by bacterial superantigens. In vivo exposure to bacterial superantigens was able to improvethe survival of lymphoma bearing mice. Moreover, the permanent expression of a retroviral encoded superantigen inducedthe complete remission of an aggressive lymphoma in a high percentage of mice. The possibility of a therapeutic use ofsuperantigens in lymphoma/leukemia T cell malignancies is discussed.Citation: Mundin˜ano J, Berguer PM, Cabrera G, Lorenzo D, Nepomnaschy I, et al. (2010) Superantigens Increase the Survival of Mice Bearing T Cell Lymphomas by