Experiments were performed investigating the actual role of
Omnadin by itself or together with the bactericidal
antibiotic Penicillin in
therapy of
infections. Mice were infected with a Staph. aureus strain exhibiting a very high resistance to
penicillin. It could be shown that
Omnadin, even when given alone and as single dose, improves bacterial defence. Together with
penicillin, it increases the
antibiotic effect considerably. Also in these experiments,
Omnadin was given only once. Furthermore, it was examined whether this effect may be due to a stimulation of the immune system. The experiments showed that
Omnadin enhances antibody production as demonstrated by the increased number of antibody forming cells. This effect concerns
IgM- as well as
IgG-
antibodies. The observation that not only the
IgM- but also the
IgG-
antibodies are increased early after immunization and application of
Omnadin suggests also a possible acceleration of the switch from
IgM- to
IgG- production. In addition, a direct influence of
Omnadin on different lymphocyte classes in vitro was assayed by evaluating the rate of transformation. It could be shown that T- and B-cells are activated. The
therapeutic effect on
Omnadin alone and particularly in combination with
penicillin is therefore explained by its stimulating effect on the immune response.