DIMINISHED CYTOCHROME-B CONTENT AND TOXIC OXYGEN METABOLITE PRODUCTION IN CIRCULATING NEUTROPHILS FROM PATIENTS WITH CROHNS-DISEASE

Phagocytic, chemotactic, and oxidative metabolic capacity of circulati ng neutrophils was studied in 20 patients with Crohn's disease. In vit ro tests of chemotaxis and phagocytosis of isolated neutrophils from p atients did not differ from that of healthy controls. However, superox ide anion production by phorbol-myristate-acetate and formylmethionyl- leucyl-phenylalanine-stimulated neutrophils from patients with Crohn's disease was significantly diminished compared with controls. Measurem ent of cytochrome b559 in total membranes of neutrophils from patients showed that it was significantly lower than in controls. Disease acti vity did not correlate either with the production of superoxide anion or with the cytochrome b559 content. It is concluded that oxidative me tabolism is impaired in neutrophils from patients with Crohn's disease and that this defect could be caused by a reduced content in membrane b-type cytochrome. Although this defective neutrophil function may co ntribute to granuloma formation, other factors have to be implicated i n disease inflammatory activity.