Neutrophil function in chronic liver disease

Neutrophil locomotion, phagocytosis and killing of Candida albicans, and plasma opsonization of brewer's yeast were studied in 44 out-patients with chronic liver disease. There were four diagnostic groups: alcoholic liver disease (ALD), chronic active hepatitis (CAH), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and cryptogenic cirrhosis (CC). Results were compared with a control group of patients with non-malignant disorders of the upper alimentary tract. Neutrophil locomotion induced by zymosan-activated autologous plasma was significantly depressed in patients with ALD and, to a lesser extent, in cryptogenic cirrhosis. With plasma from healthy donors, the patients' neutrophils showed normal locomotion. Plasma from patients with CAH gave slightly but significantly reduced phagocytosis of both Candida albicans and brewer's yeast, but the patients' cells had normal phagocytic and killing activity in the presence of normal plasma. Thus, no intrinsic abnormality in neutrophil function was found in these patients, but plasma defects, which differed in cirrhoses of different underlying aetiology, led to impaired neutrophil locomotion or phagocytosis. No correlations were found between these plasma defects and circulating levels of C3, C4, immune complexes or IgA.