Induction of responsiveness in superantigen-induced anergic T cells. Role of ligand density and costimulatory signals

The bacterial superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) induces in vivo a state of anergy defined by the inability of V beta 8+ CD4+ T cells to produce IL-2 upon restimulation in vitro. However, restimulation in vivo triggers a burst of acutely released lymphokines including IL-2 and TNF, paralleled by up-regulation of lymphokine-specific mRNA. Since anergy as defined in vitro appears not to operate in vivo, we analyzed parameters able to induce responsiveness in anergic T cells. We show here that in vitro stimulation of anergic T cells with competent Ag-presenting cells induces responsiveness, provided the APC (activated B cells or dendritic cells) present high concentrations of SEB. Crosslinking of CD28 molecules on anergic T cells could substitute the requirement for competent APC. Quantitation of TCR threshold by determining the SEB concentrations able to trigger half-maximal T cell responses revealed that anergic and normal T cells exhibited the same TCR threshold for the expression of functional IL-2 receptors (IL-2R), yet the TCR threshold for induction of IL-2 production was 10- to 100-fold elevated in anergic T cells. TCR threshold for normal and anergic T cells was further dependent on the type of APC, i.e., costimulus-competent APC required 100-fold less SEB. The results indicate that extrinsic factors such as ligand concentration and costimulus competence of APC can overcome the heightened TCR threshold of anergic T cells, thus reverting anergy into responsiveness.