Carboxyphenyl chloroanthranilic acid (CCA) in the modulation of immune response in mice.

A study to elucidate the immunopharmacological mechanisms of carboxyphenyl chloroanthranilic acid (CCA) was carried out, employing as a parameter the rosette formation of mouse spleen and thymus cells with red blood cells of sheep. The immunopharmacological properties of CCA and levamisole (LMS) were compared. In C57BL/6 mice, the immune response was either suppressed or enhanced by LMS, whereas CCA caused a suppression of rosette formation. Both drugs enhanced response in adult thymectomized C57BL/6 mice. LMS induced Thy-1 positive rosette-forming cells after adult thymectomy in C57BL/6 mice, whereas CCA did not. CCA was significantly effective in restoring the impaired immune response in C57BL/6 mice pretreated with immunosuppressants. The effect of LMS or CCA on the immune response varied among six different mouse strains (C57BL/6, BALB/c, C3H/He, DBA/2, (NZB X NZW) F1 and BXSB). The results suggest that both drugs have immunomodulation or immunonormalization properties.