Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity by polymorphonuclear leucocytes in patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex.

Polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN) play an important role in host defense against bacterial and certain fungal infections. Furthermore, PMN are effectors in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) against a variety of tumor and non-tumor target cells. In this study we examine the PMN-mediated ADCC in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex (ARC), using chicken red blood cells (CRBC) in the presence of anti-CRBC antibody as targets. Ten subjects each with AIDS, ARC and healthy controls were evaluated. Among AIDS patients one had Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and 9 had opportunistic infection(s). A significantly decreased (p less than 0.005) ADCC was observed in both patients with AIDS and ARC. Although ADCC tended to be lower in ARC than in AIDS, however the difference between AIDS and ARC was not significant (p greater than 0.5). We suggest that the deficient PMN-mediated ADCC in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection might play a role in increased predisposition to bacterial and certain opportunistic infections and perhaps in the spread of HIV infection.