Tuftsin: On the 30-year anniversary of Victor Najjar's discovery

After a short description of the results of Victor Najjar's research on tuf tsin and of the discoveries done by other authors in the early stage of tuf tsin investigation, the current state of work on tuftsin is presented, base d mainly on the literature published in the years 1984-1997. The presentati on follows this order: the occurrence of tuftsin and retro-tuftsin sequence s in proteins, their synthesis and biology, the antigenic properties of tuf tsin, its influence on phagocytic cells, and other biologic activities of t uftsin, including antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor and central effects, and the search for tuftsin superactive analogs. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science I nc. All rights reserved.