NEUTROPHIL FUNCTION IN SURGICAL PATIENTS - INVITRO CORRECTION OF ABNORMAL NEUTROPHIL CHEMOTAXIS BY LEVAMISOLE

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 85  (5) , 543-548
Abstract
Cutaneous anergy to recall skin test antigens is associated with decreased polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) chemotaxis (CTX). This decreased PMN chemotaxis is mediated by factors circulating in the sera (AS) from patients with anergy. Levamisole hydrochloride corrected the chemotactic defect of neutrophils from anergic patients, in vitro, from 96.2 .+-. 1.2 to 125.1 .+-. 1.7 .mu.m concentrations of 10-3 M to 10-18 M. Pretreatment of normal PMN with levamisole at 10-4 M protected them from the chemotactic inhibiting effect of AS. Normal PMN migrating in the normal range, 128.1 .+-. 2.7 .mu.m, can be made to behave like anergic PMN by treatment with AS. The PMN which migrated in the anergic range 92.1 .+-. 1.7 .mu.m could be converted back to normal by levamisole treatment at 10-3 M to 10-18 M. In 35 surgical patients who demonstrated the spectrum of decreased PMN CTX, the majority toward the anergy level, levamisole improved the PMN CTX toward normal levels in every instance, while not affecting the CTX of the normally migrating PMN.