Popis: |
From the initial observation that a variety of ill-defined substances could potentiate anti-body production against vaccine antigens (adjuvants), and the discovery that allograft rejection can be prevented by some cytotoxic compounds (immunosuppressive drugs), the field of immunopharmacology has been extended to include agents which enhance the nonspecific resistance of the host (immunostimulants) and modulate the complex network of reactions operating within the immune system. The present trend is towards the discovery of chemically defined substances that exert selective and controllable effects on such reactions. Here we concentrate on compounds derived from immunostimulants of microbial origin (muramyldipeptide, lipopeptides) and on the possibility of isolating immunomodulating peptides from natural proteins such as casein. |