       Document 1018
 DOCN  M9541018
 TI    Differential priming to programmed cell death of superantigen-reactive
       lymphocytes of HIV patients.
 DT    9504
 AU    Gorla R; Imberti L; Prati E; Brugnoni D; Caligaris S; Cattaneo R;
       Albertini A; Primi D; Clinical Immunology Units, Spedali Civili of
       Brescia, Italy.
 SO    AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1994 Sep;10(9):1097-103. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/95127292
 AB    Programmed cell death or apoptosis has been shown to play a central role
       in CD4+ T cell depletion following HIV infection. Because most apoptotic
       signals are delivered through T cell receptor stimulation, we
       investigated whether T cell depletion in AIDS is a stochastic phenomenon
       or if it preferentially affects T cell subsets defined by their
       interaction with superantigens. To address this problem we have taken
       advantage of the exclusive property of superantigens to trigger T cells
       expressing selective sets of T cell receptor V beta elements. Here we
       report that CD4+ T cells from HIV-infected patients can proliferate in
       vitro to T cell receptor mobilization by some superantigens, but not
       others. Furthermore, the failure of T cells to respond to some
       superantigens was shown to be due to an active cell death process that
       differentially affected T cells capable of interacting with different
       superantigens. The selective programmed cell death priming of T cells
       responsive to particular superantigens, observed in this study, suggests
       that T cell depletion in HIV infection is not simply due to the
       cytopathic effect of the virus. The possible link between programmed
       cell death and T cell receptor variable regions suggested by the present
       experiments may help to better define current models of AIDS
       pathogenesis.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*IMMUNOLOGY  Apoptosis/*IMMUNOLOGY
       Cells, Cultured  CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/*IMMUNOLOGY/PHYSIOLOGY  Flow
       Cytometry  Human  HIV Seropositivity/*IMMUNOLOGY  Lymphocyte
       Transformation  Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/IMMUNOLOGY
       Superantigens/*IMMUNOLOGY  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  T-Lymphocyte
       Subsets/IMMUNOLOGY  T-Lymphocytes/*IMMUNOLOGY/PHYSIOLOGY  JOURNAL
       ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

