Urtica dioicaagglutinin, a Vβ8.3‐specific superantigen, prevents the development of the systemic lupus erythematosus‐like pathology of MRLlpr/lpr mice

摘要

AbstractThe Vβ8.3‐specific superantigenic lectinUrtica dioicaagglutinin (UDA) was used to delete the Vβ8.3+T cells in MRLlpr/lprmice. In contrast to the systemic lupus erythematosus‐like pathology which progresses with age in the phosphate‐buffered saline‐injected MRLlpr/lprcontrols, UDA‐treated animals did not develop overt clinical signs of lupus and nephritis. The pathogenic T cell clones thus reside within the Vβ8.3+T cell population, which includes an expanded T cell clone described previously. Finally, UDA alters the production of autoantibodies in a sex‐de