Mononuclear cells from HIV-infected patients produce factors which enhance functional activity of polymorphonuclear neutrophils from healthy subjects.

The influence of mononuclear cell supernatants (MNCS) from nine healthy donors and 35 HIV-infected patients (17 with lymphoadenopathy syndrome (LAS), 15 with ARC and three with AIDS) on functional activity of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) from healthy donors was investigated. MNC after short-term cultivation (24 h) produced factors which enhanced chemiluminescence (CL) and chemotaxis of PMN. This augmentation did not depend on stimulation of MNC by mitogens (lipopolysaccharide Escherichia coli (LPS) and concanavalin A (Con A)) or on activation of PMN by FMLP. After 48 h of cultivation only MNC stimulated by LPS produced these factors. MNCS from HIV-infected patients provoked a more pronounced augmentation of PMN CL compared with MNCS from healthy subjects. This enhancement was observed in patients at all stages of infection, but was more pronounced in patients with LAS. MNCS impact on PMN CL was not connected with proliferative activity of MNC but was correlated with the level of CD4 cells. It was shown that removal of adherent cells from MNC fraction resulted in decreased MNCS impact. Treatment of MNCS by antibody to IL-1 beta, IL-8, interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) did not decrease MNCS impact on PMN CL.