OPSONOPHAGOCYTOSIS AND INTRACELLULAR KILLING ACTIVITY OF NEUTROPHILS IN PATIENTS WITH HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS INFECTION

In this study, neutrophils isolated from asymptomatic HIV positive ind ividuals, patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC), ARC patients recei ving zidovudine (AZT) and full-blown AIDS patients were assayed for th eir opsonophagocytic and intracellular killing activities. Progressive ly decreasing opsonophagocytosis of C. albicans by neutrophils correla ted with increasing severity of the disease in all groups of HIV infec ted individuals, as compared to neutrophils isolated from healthy cont rols, The intracellular killing of C. albicans by neutrophils of asymp tomatic and ARC patients did not differ significantly from controls. N eutrophils of ARC patients receiving AZT and AIDS patients showed a sl ightly decreased killing activity in com parison to that of neutrophil s from healthy controls.