Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) has significant toxicity for several mammalian species by both oral and parenteral routes. When highly purified SEB was incubated for 1 hr at 37 C with fresh serum from normal young adult men with little or no antibody activity for SEB, a factor(s) chemotactic for human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) was formed. Similar experiments using rabbit serum and autologous peritoneal PMN also demonstrated chemotactic activation. All chemotactic activity generated at 37 C was destroyed by heating at 56 C for 30 min. In human studies, precipitating antibody to SEB prevented generation of chemotactic activity by SEB. Based on heat lability and antibody sensitivity, the chemotactic factor(s) generated by SEB differs from that generated by endotoxin, and suggests a mechanism by which the PMN may participate in the pathophysiology of enterotoxemia.
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