Marked enhancement in vivo of adjuvant activity of muramyl dipeptide to protein antigens and to synthetic weak immunogens with monoclonal anti-muramyl dipeptide antibodies.

Priming of mice with complexes of antigen coupled to muramyl dipeptide and monoclonal anti-muramyl dipeptide antibodies enhanced the adjuvant activity of muramyl dipeptide on the humoral response to the antigen. The enhancement did not occur with free (uncoupled) muramyl dipeptide and required the presence of an adjuvant-active hapten within the complex as well as the Fc fragment of the monoclonal antibody. This system proved highly effective in eliciting antibodies to synthetic weak immunogens whereas muramyl dipeptide, on its own, exerts very little or no adjuvant activity. The effect was not due to a general polyclonal activation and was restricted to the antigen coupled to the synthetic adjuvant. Possible pathways involved in this phenomenon are discussed.