ANTICANDIDAL ACTIVITY AND INTERLEUKIN-1-BETA AND INTERLEUKIN-6 PRODUCTION BY POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES ARE PRESERVED IN SUBJECTS WITH AIDS

Polymorphonuclear granulocytes (PMN; or neutrophils) from uninfected o r human immunodeficiency virus-infected subjects were tested for their ability to inhibit growth of Candida albicans and produce interleukin -1beta (1L-1beta) and IL-6 in vitro. It was seen that PMN from AIDS (C enters for Disease Control stage IV) patients expressed equal if not g reater anticandidal activity compared with the activity expressed by n eutrophils from all other subjects examined. On exposure to granulocyt e macrophage-colony-stimulating factor or to a mannoprotein constituen t (MP-F2) from C. albicans itself, PMN from AIDS patients showed enhan ced antifungal activity and production of remarkable quantities of IL- 1beta and IL-6. These findings suggest that the functional abilities o f PMN to inhibit Candida growth and secrete relevant proinflammatory a nd immunomodulatory cytokines are intrinsically preserved in AIDS pati ents.