RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHEMICAL-STRUCTURE AND ADJUVANT ACTIVITY OF SOME SYNTHETIC ANALOGS OF N-ACETYL-MURAMYL-L-ALANYL-D-ISOGLUTAMINE (MDP)

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. C128  (3) , 653-661
Abstract
MDP represents the minimal structure which can replace mycobacterial cells in Freund''s complete adjuvant. This synthetic adjuvant can enhance the humoral antibody response when administered to mice with an antigen in water by various routes, including the oral route. The present paper reports some results concerning the relationship between the structure and adjuvant activity of MDP. Synthetic analogs of MDP were tested in a water-in-oil emulsion in guinea-pigs or in saline in mice. The chemical modifications concerned essentially in D-glutamyl residue. The results confirm the importance of maintaining the intact structure of the D-Glu residue and show that adjuvant activity can be abolished by certain modifications at the level of both carboxyl functions.