Opsonophagocytosis and intracellular killing activity of neutrophils in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

In this study, neutrophils isolated from asymptomatic HIV positive individuals, patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC), ARC patients receiving zidovudine (AZT) and full-blown AIDS patients were assayed for their opsonophagocytic and intracellular killing activities. Progressively decreasing opsonophagocytosis of C. albicans by neutrophils correlated with increasing severity of the disease in all groups of HIV infected individuals, as compared to neutrophils isolated from healthy controls. The intracellular killing of C. albicans by neutrophils of asymptomatic and ARC patients did not differ significantly from controls. Neutrophils of ARC patients receiving AZT and AIDS patients showed a slightly decreased killing activity in comparison to that of neutrophils from healthy controls.