Macrophage activation with pantethine and pantetheine-4'-phosphate

Adjuvant activities of pantethine (PaSS) and pantetheine-4'-phosphate (PSH-4'-P) were investigated in mice. By the multiple intraperitoneal administration, both PaSS and PSH-4'-P activated the functions of mouse peritoneal adherent cells and splenic natural killer cells. PSH-4'-P was also effective for the activation of natural killer cells by single injection. In in vitro, PaSS induced interleukin-1 (IL-1) secretion at a low concentration but PSH-4'-P did not. Both PaSS and PSH-4'-P could neither induce interleukin-2 (IL-2) secretion, nor could enhance IL-2 secretion by Con A.