Neutrophil function in a patient with meningococcal meningitis and C7 deficiency.

Abstract

Deficiency of one or more of the late components of complement (C5, C6, C7, and C8) in patients with recurrent neisserial infections is being recognized with increasing frequency. 1,2 Peculiar to persons with such deficiencies is the onset of neisserial infections in adolescence and adulthood. More than half of the complement-deficient subjects discovered through family screening studies have never experienced infectious complications. 1,3 Several studies have established that adding the missing complement component to the serum obtained from these patients restores the ability of their serum tc kill Neisseria . 2,4,5 To our knowledge, there have been no reports of the ability of neutrophils obtained from patients with deficiencies of the late complement components to ingest and kill bacteria. We recently had the opportunity to study a teenage girl with C7 deficiency who had recurrent meningococcal meningitis. Her neutrophil phagocytosis and oxidative metabolism (nitroblue tetrazolium [NBT] reduction) were assessed to determine