Muramyl Dipeptides: Prospect for Cancer Treatments and Immunostimulation

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
It has been well established that bacterial cell walls, especially their peptidoglycan portions, exhibit a number of biological activities capable of modulating host defense mechanisms in various ways. Table 1 summarizes the activities detected by in vivo assays. The in vivo activities include the modulation (mainly potentiation) of antibody- and cell-mediated immune responses and the stimulation of reticuloendothelial system. These activities possibly relate to the other effects such as antigenspecific and nonspecific enhancement of host resistance to microbial infections and tumor development, and the induction of autoimmune diseases such as an experimental allergic encephalomyelitis with encephalitogenic antigens and “adjuvant” arthritis with or without foreign antigens. Other reported activities are concerned with the induction of a transient leukopenia, the following leukocytosis and the lasting monocytosis, the pyrogenicity, the induction of acute inflammatory reaction, epitheloid granulomas and recurrent multinodular lesions, the provocation of necrotic inflammation at the site prepared with tubercle bacilli, a transient decrease and the following increase of serum complement component levels, the promotion and inhibition of sleep, and others.

This publication has 119 references indexed in Scilit: