Monocyte function in intravenous drug abusers with lymphadenopathy syndrome and in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: selective impairment of chemotaxis.

We have investigated monocyte function in 17 intravenous drug abusers with the clinical and laboratory features of lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS). LAS patients had normal numbers of circulating monocytes. Monocytes from LAS patients were comparable to cells from normal donors in terms of phagocytosis of latex beads, interleukin-1 secretion, O2- release and killing of antibody-sensitized lymphoma cells or actinomycin D pretreated WEHI 164 cells. In contrast 13 out of 17 LAS subjects tested in this respect as well as six out of nine AIDS patients showed a marked defect of monocyte chemotaxis. Thus monocytes from patients with LAS or AIDS have a selective defect of monocyte chemotaxis.