The influence of specific antibody on the disappearance of staphylococcal enterotoxin B from blood.

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Abstract
Intravenously administered staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), a simple protein devoid of carbohydrate and Upid, Is lethal In small quantities in monkeys. The disappearance of SEB from the plasma is repld In nonimmunlzed monkeys but Is markedly prolonged in the presence of Immunity against the toxin. Furthermore, therapeutic administration of antiserum reverses the disappearance of SEB and actually returns Immunoactive toxin to the circulation. Death after SEB is also prevented by delayed or prophylactic antiserum therapy. It is conceivable that SEB becomes bound to various tissue sites where it exerts toxic effects, whereas the introduction of antiserum that seems to have a stronger binding affinity serves to remove SEB from tissue sites and Is therapeutic in this manner. The implied reversible binding phenomenon between SEB and Its antitoxin may explain the mechanism by which the delayed administration of specific antitoxin is beneficial in other exotoxemias.