Dr. Jerry At rick prepared two inbred strains of mice that were genetically iden

Question

Dr. Jerry At rick prepared two inbred strains of mice that were genetically identical except for the MHC region. They didn't share any MHC alleles (we'll call their respective haplotypes H-2X and H-2y). He tested the two strains for susceptibility to a newly-discovered superantjgen toxin, and found that the H-2X mice were highly susceptible to the toxin, but the H-2y mice were relatively resistant. He expected that the superantigen would have a higher affinity for MHC alleles in the H-2y,animals than in the H-2yanimals, but when he tested them, he found there was no difference between the two strains with respect to the affinity of the superantigen for their respective MHC molecules. EXPLAIN his results

Explanation / Answer

Superantigens do not interact with the respective MHC molecules; instead they non-specifically interact with MHC and T cell receptors to activate T cells resulting in polyclonal T cell activation and massive release of cytokines. So, due to such a non-specific interaction, susceptibility of the super antigen toxin does not depend on the affinity for MHC molecules.

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