Enhancement of antigen-specific suppression by muramyl dipeptide.

The effect of the synthetic adjuvant MDP (N-acetyl-muramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglu-tamine) on the generation of antigen-specific suppression was investigated. Suppression of the anti-bovine serum albumin response, which was achieved by intravenous administration of a peptic fragment of the antigen, was greatly enhanced by simultaneous administration of MDP. Induction of suppression by a combination of bovine serum albumin fragments and MDP was found to be antigen specific and appeared to occur via the generation of antigen-specific suppressor T cells.