Gene Expression Changes Induced by Bacterial Superantigen, Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is an acute, serious systemic illness caused by bacterial superantigens (BSAg). We characterized the early molecular events underlying TSS using our HLA-DR3 transgenic mouse model and studied gene expression profiling using DNA microarrays. HLA-DR3 transgenic mice were intraperitoneally treated with either PBS or bortezomib on days -1 and 0. On day 0, each treatment group was further divided in to two groups, one received 10 μg of endotoxin-reduced highly purified SEB and the other PBS alone thus making a total of 4 groups (i.e., PBS+PBS, bortezomib+PBS, PBS+SEB, bortezomib+SEB). Three hours later, mice were euthanized by CO2 asphyxiation, spleens were immediately collected and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Once all the animals had been sacrificed, total RNA from spleens was extracted