Pharmacological modulation of neutrophil phagocytic function in a patient with recurrent sepsis, pyoderma gangrenosum and impaired phagocytosis.

A 50-year-old man with recurrent life-threatening sepsis and a cutaneous condition resembling pyoderma gangrenosum, was found to have a defect of neutrophil phagocytic function. Phagocytosis could be enhanced by corticosteroids, both in vivo in a dose-dependent manner, and in vivo, when it was accompanied by rapid clinical improvement. Studies with steroid hormones and immuno- stimulatory drugs arc described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]