Chemiluminescence response of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is characterized by many signs of immunodeficiency. Our interest was to investigate if there are also alterations of the chemiluminescence (CL) response of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) as a measure of the release of toxic oxygen radicals. Isolated PMN of 13 patients with AD with mild to moderate disease activity were stimulated with a chemotactic peptide (f-met-phe), zymosan-activated serum (ZAS), zymosan particles and phorbolmyristate acetate. In the AD group, we found a significantly decreased response after stimulation with ZAS in comparison to the controls. With the other stimuli tested no significant difference was detected. The decreased response of PMN to stimulation with ZAS from patients with AD associated with a normal reactivity to the other stimuli could be due to specific desensitization of the PMN by C5a in vivo.