Deoxycholic Acid - Research in Immunology

Research in Immunology

Its function as a detergent and isolating agent for membrane proteins also suits it for production of Outer Membrane Protein (OMP) vaccines such as MenB, a Norwegian vaccine developed in the early 1990s. The MeNZB vaccine was produced using the same method.

In China, the traditional medicine "Niuhuang", which in Chinese means "Oxen Yellow" and is actually bilestone of oxen, has been in use for two millennia in the unproven belief that it treats inflammations and enhances the immune system. One of its main components is DCA.

Some European publications point towards the effect of DCA as an immunostimulant of the unspecific immune system, activating its main actors, the macrophages. According to these publications, a sufficient amount of DCA in the human body would correspond with a good immune reaction of the unspecific immune system. Clinical studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s confirm the expectation, that DCA is involved in the natural healing processes of local inflammations, different types of herpes, and possibly cancer. Due to the same acronym as another potential cancer treatment, DCA is often confused with Dichloroacetic acid.