Genetic control of immune response to staphylococcal exfoliative toxin A in mice.

Different inbred and congenic resistant strains of mice were immunized with staphylococcal exfoliative toxin A (ETA). In antibody responses measured in sera of mice by a passive hemagglutination technique, A/J, DBA/2, BALB/c, B10A, B10D2, B10S, and A.SW were high responders. C57BL/10 (B10), A.BY, and DBA/1 were low responders. The congenic C3H/HeJ and C3H.SW mice were, respectively, high and low responders. The observation that the immune responses of the mice to ETA were closely linked with the haplotypes of their H-2 complexes suggests the existence of an H-2-linked immune response (Ir) gene coding for the production of humoral antibodies to ETA. Four B10A recombinants were used to map this gene within the H-2 complex. The finding that B10A(2R) and B10A(4R) were high responders, whereas B10A(3R) and B10A(5R) were low responders, indicates that the gene controlling antibody response to ETA is located in the I-A subregion or the H-2K end within the H-2 complex. We wish to propose the name Ir-ETA for this gene. The function of Ir-ETA seems to be at least related to antigen recognition at the T-lymphocyte level. Neonatal mice are generally susceptible to ETA regardless of their H-2 haplotypes. However, the neonatal mice born to a high-responder mother immunized with ETA were resistant to the subcutaneous challenge of ETA, but those born to an immunized low-responder mother were susceptible to the challenge. This result suggests that if the mother is a high responder to ETA and is effectively immunized with ETA, the maternal immunity makes it possible to neutralize this toxin in neonatal mice.