Abnormal neutrophil chemotaxis in Gaucher disease.

The tendency towards infection described in Gaucher disease patients has been attributed to their post-splenectomy state. We noticed that certain patients with intact spleen have also suffered from recurrent pyogenic infections, thus an attempt to study their neutrophil function has been made. Nine of 29 patients studied expressed significant decrease in neutrophil chemotaxis directed towards zymosan activated serum or N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine. Random migration was significantly impaired in five of those nine patients. Adherence of neutrophils to nylon fibres and O2- production were intact. The patients with impaired chemotaxis were significantly afflicted by their disease (early onset of symptoms and severity score index > 10) and most of them had genotypes associated with severe disease (1448/1448 and 1226/84GG). No correlation was found with the spleen status. Three of the patients with impaired chemotaxis, and none of the patients with normal neutrophil function, suffered from recurrent pyogenic infections. It is suggested that the described neutrophil migration impairment may contribute to the tendency towards infection in certain patients with advanced Gaucher disease.