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From the * Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, University of Lausanne, 1066 Epalinges, Switzerland; the Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV[SW]) encodes a superantigen expressed by infected B
cells. It evokes an antibody response specific for viral envelope protein, indicating selective activation of antigen-specific B cells. The response to MMTV(SW) in draining lymph nodes was
compared with the response to haptenated chicken gamma globulin (NP-CGG) using flow cytometry and immunohistology. T cell priming occurs in both responses, with T cells proliferating in association with interdigitating dendritic cells in the T zone. T cell proliferation continues in the presence of B cells in the outer T zone, and B blasts then undergo exponential
growth and differentiation into plasma cells in the medullary cords. Germinal centers develop
in both responses, but those induced by MMTV(SW) appear later and are smaller. Most T cells
activated in the T zone and germinal centers in the MMTV(SW) response are superantigen specific and these persist for weeks in lymph nodes draining the site MMTV(SW) injection;
this contrasts with the selective loss of superantigen-specific T cells from other secondary lymphoid tissues. The results indicate that this viral superantigen, when expressed by professional
antigen-presenting cells, drives extrafollicular and follicular B cell differentiation leading to virus-specific antibody production.
Institute of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, 1066 Epalinges,
Switzerland; and the § Department of Immunology, University of Birmingham Medical School,
Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom
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