Pseudomonas aeruginosa: immune status in patients with cystic fibrosis

In order to have a better understanding of the clinical significance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, circulating and secretory antibodies were measured. Of 100 patients diagnosed as having cystic fibrosis (CF) and an atypical mucoid P. aeruginosa cultured from their sputum, each possessed serum precipitins. These immunoprecipitates, however, were not detected in the sera of 40 CF patients, some of whom were chronically ill with pulmonary colonization by typically rough-smooth strains of P. aeruginosa. The sera of 46 CF patients and 27 CF patient parents not colonized by P. aeruginosa were negative for the precipitins. The sera from 15 of 45 chronically ill patients not having CF, however, but harboring P. aeruginosa, also possessed serum precipitins. The sera from 85 subjects not having CF and not clinically infected with P. aeruginosa were negative for precipitins. Serum hemagglutination titers as high as 1:4096 were measured in older CF patients having advanced pulmonary disease and who were infected with mucoid P. aeruginosa. Salivary titers ranged from 1:8 to 1:64. Increased levels of both circulating and secretory antibodies of the immunoglobulin A and G classes were demonstrated in patients with CF. Once a patient with CF becomes colonized with P. aeruginosa a process of conversion from the rough and smooth forms to the mucoid form is almost inevitable. Although the mucoid form predominates in the sputum, intermediates of the various colony types are often present. Serum precipitins were demonstrable only after the appearance of mucoid strains in the sputum of patients with CF. Although antibiotics tend to reduce the number of mucoid microorganisms, they are rarely, if ever, eradicated from these patients' lungs. Recurrent episodes of servere pulmonary infection and the evidence of increasing antibody formation to mucoid strains indicates the invasiveness of these particular strains.