title: Influences of cephem antibiotics on the immune response in mice.
abstract: The effects of six cephem antibiotics, including ceftezole, cefmetazole, cefoxitin, cefotiam, cefoperazone, and cefotaxime, on murine humoral immunity were examined. In female BDF1 mice each cephem antibiotic was administered at a dose of 800 mg/kg/day i.v. for 7 consecutive days. Among the antibiotics tested, only ceftezole and cefoperazone induced a significant increase in serum total IgM, but not in serum total IgG. Especially in case of ceftezole, the mice developed splenomegaly due to the proliferation of IgM-producing cells in the germinal centers. The proliferation of splenic IgM-producing cells was also observed in female thymus-deficient Balb/c-nu/nu mice receiving intravenous ceftezole. Thus, the drug was indicated to enhance the polyclonal IgM production in mice by acting as a B cell mitogen. This is consistent with the in vitro finding that ceftezole exhibited a mitogenic effect on whole spleen cells from BDF1 mice, but not on B cell depleted spleen cells.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute, Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akahane
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furuhama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Une
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Onodera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000921:Antibody-Producing Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D002437:Cefazolin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D002511:Cephalosporins; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; C012811:ceftezole; D002437:Cefazolin