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[Granulocyte adherence and chemotaxis in children (author's transl)]
Insights
Bacterial infections significantly increase granulocyte adherence, while viral infections and cytostatic therapies do not affect chemotaxis. High-dose chemotherapy temporarily impairs granulocyte adherence, impacting immune cell function.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Cell Biology
Context:
- Granulocyte adherence and chemotaxis are critical for immune cell migration from blood to tissues.
- Understanding factors affecting these leukocyte functions is vital for managing infections and immune responses.
Purpose:
- To investigate the impact of bacterial and viral infections, and various therapies on granulocyte adherence and chemotaxis.
- To assess the duration of functional defects in granulocytes following high-dose chemotherapy.
Summary:
- Bacterial infections markedly increased granulocyte adherence to 91%, whereas viral infections showed no significant effect.
- High-dose methotrexate or vincristine reduced granulocyte adherence to 20%, with defects persisting up to 14 days post-infusion.
- Viral infections and cytostatic therapies did not impair granulocyte chemotaxis, but bacterial infections and phagocytic defects did.
Impact:
- Findings highlight distinct effects of bacterial vs. viral infections on granulocyte function.
- Reveals the transient but significant impact of high-dose chemotherapy on granulocyte adherence.
- Provides insights into immune dysregulation during infection and cancer therapy.
Abstract:
Granulocyte adherence to endothelial surfaces associated with their chemotactic property enables these cells to leave the peripheral blood and to migrate into the tissue. This study was performed to investigate the effect of bacterial and viral infections as well as various kinds of therapies on these leukocyte functions. The adherence of control granulocytes to nylon fibers was 70%. In contrast to viral infections bacterial infections increased the adherence to 91%. Following the treatment with high dose methotrexate or vincristine the adherence was reduced to 20%. This granulocyte function defect was evident up to 14 days after the high dose methotrexate infusion. An age dependency of granulocyte adherence was not observed. In addition, viral infections as well as cytostatic therapy did not effect granulozyte chemotaxis. But bacterial infections and various defined phagocytic defects impaired the granulocyte chemotactic activity.