[Recent progress in superantigen research].

In 1993 there was substantial progress in superantigen research. The following are the main achievements. (i) The life cycle of an exogenous mouse mammary tumor virus, MMTV (SW), has been clearly eluciated. (ii) X-ray crystallography of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 has been completed. (iii) The involvement of a superantigen encoded by an endogenous mouse mammary tumor virus, Mtv-51, in the development of a B cell lymphoma has been shown in SJL mice. However, there are many unsolved questions. For example, (i) are there endogenous superantigens in man? (ii) is there any role for superantigens in the development of autoimmunity? (iii) what is the three dimensional structure of superantigens encoded by mouse mammary tumor viruses? In the near future superantigens will be exploited for therapeutic purposes in the area of autoimmunity and cancer.