The relationship between adjuvant and mitogenic effects of amphotericin methyl ester.

The antifungal polyene amphotericin B (AmB) and its methyl ester derivative (AME) both show potent murine immunostimulant as well as B-cell activating effects. Under certain experimental conditions, AME is a much more potent polyclonal B-cell activator (PBA) than AmB. Notable features of the murine B-cell stimulation induced by AME include: (i) High concentrations of AME (50-100 microgram/ml) are required and even at this level exhibit little or no spleen cell toxicity. (ii) Several lines of evidence suggest that the B-cell activating properties of AME are not involved in the cellular mechanism of adjuvant activity in vivo. (iii) There is a strong correlation between the magnitude of the in vitro PBA effects and the in vivo adjuvant effects of AME in a survey of different mouse strains. This evidence suggests that there is genetic control of the murine lymphoid cell-stimulatory effects of AME and that a small number of genes determines the responsive phenotype.