Superantigens increase the survival of mice bearing T cell lymphomas by inducing apoptosis of neoplastic cells.

Superantigens bind to major histocompatibility complex class II molecules and interact with T cells expressing a particular T cell receptor Vβ inducing a strong proliferation/deletion response of the superantigen-reactive T cells. However, there have been no attempts to investigate the ability of Sags to induce apoptosis in neoplastic T cells by signaling through the Vβ region of their TCR. In the present study we show that bacterial and MMTV-encoded superantigens induce the apoptosis of AKR/J cognate lymphoma T cells both in vitro and in vivo. The Fas-Fas-L pathway was shown to be involved in the apoptosis of lymphoma T cells induced by bacterial superantigens. In vivo exposure to bacterial superantigens was able to improve the survival of lymphoma bearing mice. Moreover, the permanent expression of a retroviral encoded superantigen induced the complete remission of an aggressive lymphoma in a high percentage of mice. The possibility of a therapeutic use of superantigens in lymphoma/leukemia T cell malignancies is discussed.