Immunological aspects of shortened neutrophil half-disappearance times after isologous neutrophil transfusions

Organ and tissue transplants have decreased the morbidity associated with such medical problems as uremia and heart disease. The success of organ transplants has paralleled advances in transplantation immunology. Medical problems with bone marrow destruction or replacement with its resultant neutropenia could be temporarily alleviated by the use of leukocyte transfusions. Though leukocyte transfusions have been done, the efficacy has not been evaluated by direct measurement of physiological function of the transfused cells. To determine the potential efficacy of leukocyte transfusion in 12 normal subjects, neurtrophil kinetic studies and immunological test to detect leukocyte antibodies were employed. The physiological behavior of the neutrophils was followed by labeling them with radioactive diisophrophylfluorophosphate (DF32P) in vitro, and then transfusing them. Interval sampling of these labeled cells allowed their half-disappearance time (T½) to be computed. This was first done with autologous neutrophils to obtain the normal T½ of the subject's own neutrophils. Labeled isologous neutrophils were then transfused into that subject and the T½ of the donor cells in the recipient's circulation was measured. Post transfusion sera were collected from each recipient after 1, 6, and 13 days, and tested for leukoagglutinins. Erythrocyte and lymphocyte cytotoxic antibodies were tested for as well, but none were found in these sera. Four of the 12 recipients have accelerated isologous neutrophil disappearances rates, while 3 of the 12 demonstrated leukoagglutinins formation. Two of the 4 subjects with shortened neurtrophil survival time formed leukoagglutinins, and ? of those with leukoagglutinins has shortened survival times. A 2x2 Chi-square evaluation of these data indicated no significant association between the neutrophil survival time and leukocyte antibody formation (p = .015).