[Influrence of Recombinant Human Procalcitonin on Phagocytic and Candidacidal Ability of Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes and on Killing Mechanisms of Serum and Blood Aganist Bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus and Escherichia Coli]

Unlabelled: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a highly selective and specific marker for early diagnosis of sepsis. There is enough information confirming that procalcitonin should be considered as an important mediator in the pathophysiology of sepsis. The aim of our work was to evaluate the effect of recombinant human procalcitonin (rhPCT) on phagocytic and candidacidal activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) in blood, as well as on killing mechanisms of fresh serum and blood against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Our results show that rhPCT dose dependently decreased both phagocytic and candidacidal activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (p < 0.001). RhPCT inhibited also the microbicidal activity of both serum and blood on E. coli that was found by inoculation of suspension on culture plates. We found that rhPCT supported the E. coli colony count increase during the incubation in the presence of both serum and blood. The effect of rhPCT on the S. aureus colony count increase was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Our results indicate a suppressive effect of rhPCT on phagocytic and microbicidal activity of polymorphonuclear leucocytes.