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Journal of Virology, July 2002, p. 6852-6856, Vol. 76, No. 13
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.13.6852-6856.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacterial Superantigen Exposure after Resolution of Influenza Virus Infection Perturbs the Virus-Specific Memory CD8⁺-T-Cell Repertoire

Chiu-Chen Huang,^1,2, Sangeeta Shah,^3, Phuong Nguyen,¹ John D. Altman,⁴ and Marcia A. Blackman^1,2,3*

Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105,¹ Department of Pathology, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee 38163,² Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, New York 12983,³ Emory Vaccine Center, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322⁴

Received 19 December 2001/ Accepted 21 March 2002

Heterologous viral infections have been shown to impact the preexisting memory CD8⁺-T-cell repertoire. Bacterial superantigens are products of common human pathogenic bacteria, including staphylococci and streptococci, that are potent T-cell-stimulatory molecules. In this report, we show that exposure to staphylococcal enterotoxin B, a bacterial superantigen, causes a selective functional deletion of cross-reactive influenza virus-specific CD8⁺ memory T cells. This perturbation of the memory repertoire can have a significant impact on viral clearance after secondary challenge.

Present address: AbGenomics, Taipei, Taiwan.

Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136.