Effect of influenza A on phagocytic cell function.

The effect of various strains of influenza virus on polymorphonuclear leucocyte (PMNL) function were studied by chemiluminescence (CL) and bacterial killing assays. All virus strains induced PMNL CL and peak CL correlated with haemagglutination (HA) but not neuraminidase (NA) activity of virus pools. Heat-treatment of virus pools generally had little effect on HA activity or ability to generate a PMN CL response but almost completely destroyed NA activity. Exposure of PMNL to each of the six virus strains resulted in loss of surface-associated sialic acid and a marked depression in both zymosan-induced PMNL CL and PMNL bactericidal capacity. However, there was no correlation between the degree of PMNL functional impairment and virus NA activity and, furthermore, heat treatment of virus pools removed NA activity but generally had little effect on their ability to reduce PMNL function. NA does not appear to play a primary role in impairment of PMNL function by influenza virus.