Abnormal granulocyte chemotaxis has been described in chronic hemodialysis patients. In this study, sera from 53 hemodialysis patients were tested for chemotactic inhibitory activity by a modified Boyden technique. Chemotactic inhibitory activity, defined as >20% inhibition of normal granulocyte chemotaxis, was found in 45% of patients. Only sera from patients having undergone >3 mo hemodialysis displayed chemotactic inhibitory activity and retained this inhibitory activity when retested 9 mo later. Four of five patients who had initially undergone <3 mo hemodialysis and lacked serum chemotactic inhibitory activity developed inhibitory activity when tested 9 mo later. Clinical evaluation of patients with serum chemotactic inhibitory activity showed that these patients did not have a significantly increased incidence of infection, although a trend toward decreased mortality during the time of study was observed (P = 0.0721).
Simeon E. Goldblum, Dennis E. Van Epps, William P. Reed
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