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Muramyl Dipeptides

  • Chapter
The Pharmacology of Lymphocytes

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 85))

Abstract

Synthetic muramyl dipeptide or MDP (AcMur-l-Ala-d-iGln) is able to replace killed mycobacteria in complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) for the induction of both humoral and cellular immunity (Ellouz et al. 1974). The structural requirements for the adjuvant activity were investigated by comparing a large series of analogs, and found to be rather narrow. Initially, the adjuvant effect of MDP was demonstrated in a water-in-oil emulsion. However, its clinical use became a reasonable goal when it was shown to possess immunoadjuvant properties, even when administered in saline (Chedid et al. 1976; Audibert et al. 1976), and when synthetic analogs lacking untoward effects were prepared (Chedid et al. 1982; Allison et al. 1986). Some of the steps in the research into the biologic adjuvant effects of MDPs have been reported in reviews articles (Adam 1985; Audibert et al. 1985; Takada and Kotani 1985).

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Authors
  1. M. Parant
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  2. L. Chedid
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Department, CIBA-GEIGY AG, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Michael A. Bray Ph. D.

  2. Pharmaceutical Division, Preclinical Research, SANDOZ Ltd., CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland

    John Morley Ph. D., FRC Path.

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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Parant, M., Chedid, L. (1988). Muramyl Dipeptides. In: Bray, M.A., Morley, J. (eds) The Pharmacology of Lymphocytes. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 85. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73217-1_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73217-1_23

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73219-5

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