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From the * Division of Basic Immunology, Department of Medicine, National Jewish Medical and
Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206; and the Staphylococcus aureus produces a set of proteins (e.g., staphylococcal enterotoxin A [SEA], SEB,
toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 [TSST-1]) which act both as superantigens (SAgs) and toxins. Although their mode of action as SAgs is well understood, little is known about how they enter the
body via the intestine and cause food poisoning. To examine this problem we used an in vitro culture system to study the capacity of class II MHC-negative human intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2)
to transcytose several staphylococcal toxins. We found that Caco-2 cells are capable of dosedependent, facilitated transcytosis of SEB and TSST-1, but not SEA. We extended these studies in vivo in mice by showing that ingested SEB appears in the blood more efficiently than
SEA. Our data suggest that these toxins can cross the epithelium in an immunologically intact form. These results may have important implications for the pathogenesis of food poisoning.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, § Departments of Immunology and Medicine, and Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and
Genetics, University of Colorado Health Science Center, Denver, Colorado 80262
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