Defect in pyridine nucleotide dependent superoxide production by a particulate fraction from the granulocytes of patients with chronic granulomatous disease.

Particulate fractions from normal human granulocytes preactivated with opsonized zymosan were found to catalyze superoxide production in the presence of reduced pyridine nucleotides. Similar preparations from three patients with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease produced no detectable superoxide. The failure to produce superoxide was not due to an inhibitor, since cell-free preparations from the patients' granulocytes had no effect on superoxide production by normal particles. Particles from the mothers of two of the patients produced superoxide at diminished rates; superoxide production by particles from the third mother was normal. These findings suggest that chronic granulomatous disease represents either a defect in a pyridine nucleotide-dependent superoxide-forming oxidase or a lesion in the apparatus responsible for activating the oxidase.