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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1973 Jul;70(7):2129–2133. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.7.2129

Relationship of the Structure of Bacterial Lipopolysaccharides to Its Function in Mitogenesis and Adjuvanticity

Jacques M Chiller 1, Barry J Skidmore 1, David C Morrison 1, William O Weigle 1
PMCID: PMC433681  PMID: 4579014

Abstract

The ability of bacterial lipopolysaccharides to induce lymphocyte mitogenesis and to act as an adjuvant of antibody formation was attributable to the lipid-A region of the molecule. Measured by induction of DNA synthesis, lipid A was mitogenic for bone marrow-derived lymphocytes obtained from spleens of congenitally athymic mice but not for thymocytes obtained from thymuses of normal mice. Adjuvanticity was demonstrated by the ability of lipid A to convert a tolerogenic regimen of antigen into one eliciting an immune response and by its ability to markedly enhance the antibody response to a weak antigen.

Keywords: lipid A, B lymphocytes

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Selected References

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