Defective Regulation of Inflammatory Mediators in Hodgkin's Disease

Abstract

Elevated levels of the chemotactic-factor inactivator, a naturally occurring regulator of inflammatory mediators, were found in the serums of nine patients with Hodgkin's disease. When these same serums were activated with the yeast particle zymosan, so as to generate chemotactic activity, considerably less chemotactic activity was found in the specimens from patients with Hodgkin's disease than in four similarly treated normal serums. Inactivator isolated from either serum of the patients or normal serum inactivated monocyte as well as neutrophil chemotactic factors. Inactivator in patients' serum was qualitatively similar to that isolated from normal human serum, but may not be functionally homogeneous. The elevated levels in serum of patients, together with inactivation of leukotactic factors that are complement-derived, complement-independent and lymphocyte-derived, suggest that patients with Hodgkin's disease have a generalized defect in the ability to mobilize inflammatory cells. (N Engl J Med 290:76–80, 1974)