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Bacterial superantigens in human disease: structure, function and diversity
R G Ulrich1, S Bavari, M A Olson
1Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease, Frederick, Maryland, USA.
Trends in Microbiology
|December 1, 1995
Abstract:
All bacterial superantigens use common structural strategies to bind to major histocompatibility complex class II receptors, while binding the T cell antigen receptor in different ways. Overstimulation of the immune response is responsible for the acute pathological effects, while reactivation of developmentally silenced T cells might result in autoimmune disease. Certain diseases might be controlled with superantigens or genetically attenuated vaccines.