Abstract
There are two important mechanisms of activation of invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells) by microbes: direct activation of the invariant T-cell receptor (TCR) by microbial glycolipids presented by CD1d and indirect activation, mediated by the responses of antigen-presenting cells to microbes. In this study, we provide evidence for a novel CD1d-independent direct activation of iNKT cells involving a microbial protein superantigen presented in the context of major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II), which plays a critical role in pathogenesis, thereby redefining the role of iNKT cells. Intranasal exposure to staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) in C57BL/6 wild-type mice caused acute lung injury (ALI) characterized by vascular leak, cytokine storm, and infiltration of mononuclear cells in the lungs. In contrast, the vascular leak and inflammation were decreased by ~50% in NKT cell-deficient Jα18(-/-) and CD1d(-/-) mice following SEB exposure, which was reversed following adoptive transfer of iNKT cells into CD1d(-/-) mice. In vitro, SEB could directly stimulate iNKT cells in a CD1d-independent manner via MHC-II/TCR interaction, specifically involving Vβ8. These studies not only demonstrate that iNKT cells can be activated directly by a bacterial protein superantigen independent of CD1d but also indicate that in addition to the conventional T cells, iNKT cells play a critical role in SEB-mediated ALI.