Biological activities of chemically synthesized partial structure analogues of lipid A

Analogues of the nonreducing sugar part of lipid A were chemically synthesized and tested for biological activities such as Limulus amebocyte lysate gelation, interferon- and tumor necrosis factor-induction, lethal toxicity in galactosamine-sensitized mice, and pyrogenicity. A 4-O-monophosphorylglucosamine derivative possessing 2-N-3-tetradecanoyl-oxytetradecanoyl and 3-O-tetradecanoyl groups (GLA-27) exhibited all activities tested except for pyrogenicity. Alteration of the acyl substituents or dephosphorylation as well as acylation or phosphorylation of the 6-OH caused most activities of GLA-27 to diminish or disappear altogether. On the other hand, the biological activities expressed by GLA-27 were not significantly affected even when the glucosamine backbone was changed to 1-deoxy type, epimer type at C-3 (allose form), or 3-amino type. These results indicate that the acyl substituents and the phosphorylation positions rather than the backbone structures in these partial structure analogues of lipid A affect the expression of biological activities of endotoxin. The results also clearly indicate that some biological activities of endotoxin can be expressed separately from pyrogenicity.