Stimulation of Human Neutrophil Chemiluminescence by Soluble Immune Complexes and Antibodies to Neutrophils

Activation of the neutrophil surface membrane may occur with a variety of stimuli, leading to enhanced glucose oxidation via the hexose monophosphate shunt and production of toxic oxygen radicals such as superoxide anion. This metabolic stimulation may be accompanied by light emission or chemiluminescence. The objective of these studies was to determine the effects of soluble and insoluble immune complexes, IgG aggregates, and rabbit anti-neutrophil serum on neutrophil activation as measured by chemiluminescence. Also, the uptake of immune complexes by neutrophils was determined and was correlated with the solubility of the complexes and the levels of induced chemiluminescence. The results indicate that stimulation of neutrophil chemiluminescence and uptake of immune complexes by neutrophils were both closely correlated with the percent precipitation of the immune complexes. Insoluble immune complexes that were avidly ingested by neutrophils also stimulated maximum levels of chemiluminescence. Nevertheless, elevated levels of chemiluminescence were induced by soluble immune complexes that were poorly ingested by neutrophils. Similarly, soluble aggregated IgG induced elevated levels of neutrophil chemiluminescence in a dose-dependent manner. Aggregated IgG induced up to sixfold higher levels of neutrophil chemiluminescence than did equal amounts of monomeric IgG. Finally, rabbit anti-neutrophil serum also caused increased levels of neutrophil chemiluminescence. Since previous studies have shown that sera from some patients with rheumatoid arthritis and Felty's syndrome have increased amounts of neutrophil-binding IgG due to the presence of both immune complexes and neutrophil-reactive antibodies, the effect of these sera on neutrophil chemiluminescence was studied. Positive correlations were observed between the level of neutrophil chemiluminescence induced by the sera and the amount of serum IgG neutrophil-binding activity (r = 0.72, p less than 0.001) as well as the level of immune complexes determined by C1q binding (r = 0.76, p less than or equal to 0.001). Such neutrophil activation by immune complexes or antibodies may reflect production of toxic oxygen radicals and could subsequently affect neutrophil function.