Abnormalities of lymphocyte locomotion in immunodeficiency disease

Lymphocyte and neutrophil locomotion were studied in 23 patients with well defined, primary immunodeficiencies. These included eight patients with common variable immune deficiency, three patients with X-linked agammaglobulinaemia, two patients with the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, three patients with ataxia telangiectasia, three patients with immunodeficiency and normal serum immunoglobulin concentrations, one patient with immune deficiency and hyper-IgM syndrome, two patients with Job syndrome and one patient with a granulocyte adherence defect. Random and stimulated lymphocyte and neutrophil migration were evaluated. C5a and casein were used to stimulate lymphocyte migration and C5a and formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalamine (f-MLP) were used to stimulate neutrophil migration. Significantly depressed lymphocyte migration in response to casein and C5a was observed in patients with common variable immune deficiency, patients with immune deficiency and normal immunoglobulin concentration, and patients with Job syndrome. No consistent defect in lymphocyte locomotion was observed in the other patients studied. Neutrophil migration in response to C5a and f-MLP was depressed in Job syndrome, the patient with a granulocyte adherence defect, one of the six patients with common variable immune deficiency and none of the remaining patients. No significant correlation of skin test reactivity and lymphocyte migration was noted, but a correlation between the degree of lymphocyte proliferation in response to phytohaemagglutinin and lymphocyte migration in response to casein was observed. The results presented indicate that aberrations in lymphocyte migration occur in several types of immunodeficiency diseases and that defects in lymphocyte and neutrophil migration can occur simultaneously or totally independent of each other.