Dysfunction of monocytes in Hodgkin's disease by excessive production of PGE-2 in long-term remission patients.

ABSTRACT

The candidacidal activity and the production of oxygen radicals by monocytes were investigated in untreated and long-term remission patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD). Both groups showed a decreased candidacidal function of monocytes with a chemiluminescence (CL) response significantly lower and delayed with respect to normal controls. Indomethacin at 1 microgram/ml corrected the monocyte deficiency increasing the CL response to normal values and normalizing the kinetics in the untreated patients. However, in patients in remission, the peak was delayed and followed by a significant increase in the production of oxygen radicals compared with untreated patients. A direct linear correlation was found between the percentages of lysed Candida and maximum CL peak of stimulated monocytes. When prostaglandin E2 (PGE-2) levels, measured in supernatants of cultured mononuclear cells, were plotted against the percentages of killed Candida, an inverse linear correlation was found. Therefore, monocytes from HD patients have a dysfunction in the generation of oxygen radicals and a decreased candidacidal activity associated with excessive production of PGE-2. Indomethacin can correct the oxidative metabolism in the untreated patients while in apparently "cured" patients the disorder persists.