The role of immunoglobulin and complement in enhancing the respiratory burst of neutrophils against Trichomonas vaginalis.

Human neutrophils, alone, did not kill Trichomonas vaginalis. More than 90% of T. vaginalis (10(5)/ml) survived in the presence of 10% normal human serum (NHS) while 90% of these organisms were killed in the presence of a combination of neutrophils (10(6)/ml) and 10% NHS. Mechanisms responsible for this serum-mediated neutrophil killing of T. vaginalis were demonstrated through a process of lucigenin-amplified neutrophil chemiluminescence. As evidenced by indirect immunofluorescence, NHS showed specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) titre of 1:8 for T. vaginalis. Purified IgG, at 1.6 mg/ml, showed no direct opsonizing or lytic effect on this organism. Formalin-fixed trichomonads opsonized by C2 deficient human serum promote 4 times more neutrophil chemiluminescence than those opsonized by Factor B deficient human serum. With the addition of purified IgG (5 mg/ml) neutrophil chemiluminescence was increased by 4 times and further improved trichomonal killing by neutrophils (from 5 +/- 4% to 78 +/- 16%) via activation of the classical complement pathway, but did not alter that due to activation of the alternative complement pathway. These studies indicate that both an IgG-enhanced classical complement pathway activation and an antibody-independent alternative complement pathway activation provide opsonin (C3) for T. vaginalis to facilitate the neutrophil killing mechanism.