The NBT slide test: A simple screening method for detecting chronic granulomatous disease and female carriers

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With a simple nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) slide test, six new cases of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) were detected during a 10 month period. Over 90 per cent of normal granulocytes, isolated from a drop of capillary blood by adherence to an endotoxin-coated coverslip, are converted to large blue NBT-positive cells if incubated with a solution of NBT. No NBT-positive cells were detected in five male and two female patients with CGD. Two brothers with a CGD variant showed 10 to 30 per cent NBT-positive cells, when endotoxin-coated slides were used. Approximately one half of the white cells from carrier mothers and carrier sisters of the male patients were NBT negative. The mother of two girls with CGD had a normal NBT slide test, suggesting an autosomal recessive inheritance.