Impaired monocyte-to-macrophage maturation in patients with lymphadenopathy syndrome.

The in vitro maturation of monocytes from patients with lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS) was studied by means of enzymatic activity performed during a 7-day incubation period. Monocytes from LAS patients, healthy homosexuals, and healthy heterosexuals were assayed for beta-galactosidase and beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase activity on days 3, 5, and 7 of culture. The LAS monocytes had significantly lower (P less than 0.01) absolute levels of both enzymes compared with controls or healthy homosexual subjects. All three groups showed a linear increase in enzyme activity over time. There was no statistical difference between the slopes of the curves of enzyme activity vs time for the three groups, indicating that the rate of increase in enzyme activity was similar for the groups. These results suggest that monocyte-to-macrophage maturation is impaired in LAS. LAS monocytes are initially less mature than those of healthy homosexuals or heterosexuals but retain their capacity to mature during incubation in vitro.