Mediators of Inflammation 
Volume 2008 (2008), Article ID 512196, 7 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/512196
Research Article

Staphylococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxin-1 Induces the Translocation and Secretion of High Mobility Group-1 Protein from Both Activated T Cells and Monocytes

Shirin Kalyan1 and Anthony W. Chow2

 1Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences, Diamond Health Care Centre, Department of Medicine, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1M9, Canada
2Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 3J5, Canada
Received 6 August 2008; Accepted 26 September 2008

Recommended by Tania Fröde

Abstract

High mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1) is a DNA-binding protein secreted by activated monocytes and has been identified as a key late mediator of endotoxic shock. We investigated the regulation of HMGB-1 in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) following stimulation with the staphylococcal superantigen, toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1), and found that TSST-1, like LPS, induced the secretion of HMGB-1 from human PBMC. However, unlike monocyte-driven sepsis caused by endotoxin, translocation and secretion of HMGB-1 mediated by TSST-1 was dependent on the presence of both activated T cells and monocytes. Furthermore, we show that nuclear HMGB-1 is released from TSST-1 stimulated T cells. This finding presents a basis for investigating the potential of targeting HMGB-1 for the treatment of toxic shock syndrome, and provides further insight on the role of HMGB-1 in the cross-talk between activated monocytes and T cells.