INVIVO INTERFERON-GAMMA THERAPY AUGMENTS THE INVITRO ABILITY OF CHRONIC GRANULOMATOUS-DISEASE NEUTROPHILS TO DAMAGE ASPERGILLUS HYPHAE

During the recently completed double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial of recombinant interferon-gamma (rIFN-gamma) therapy in chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), a metabolic assay of neutrophil damage to Aspergillus fumigatus hyphae was used to monitor neutrophil function before and during therapy. In this assay, 5 x 10(4) conidia that had germinated into hyphae were exposed to 5 X 10(5), 15 X 10(5) or 50 X 10(5) CGD neutrophils. By analysis of variance, neutrophils from patients on rIFN-gamma were found to produce significantly more damage to hyphae than those from the placebo group (P < .01). In subgroup analysis, this effect was best seen in the hyphae exposed to 50 x 10(5) CGD neutrophils, where neutrophils from patients receiving rIFN-gamma produced significantly more damage to the hyphae than those from the placebo group (P < .05). In vivo rIFN-gamma therapy improves the ability of CGD neutrophils to damage Aspergillus fumigatus hyphae in an in vitro assay.