Expression of the adhesion molecule CD11b and polymerization of actin by polymorphonuclear granulocytes of patients endangered by sepsis

The integrin CD11b is an important adhesion molecule mediating the transendothelial migration of circulating polymorphonuclear granulocytes into an inflammatory region. The expression of CD11b is closely related to the ability to polymerize actin, a major component of the cytoskeleton within the phagocyte. In this study we compared the CD11b expression as well as the polymerization of actin of isolated neutrophils from patients endangered by sepsis with cells from healthy donors. The patient population was subdivided into a group of patients with severe thermal injuries and a group of patients who were admitted to an intensive care unit on suspicion of sepsis. The following results were obtained: (1) cells from burn patients, but not from non-burn patients, showed a reduced basal expression of CD11b during the first week after the burn trauma; (2) stimulation with the chemotactic peptide formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (FMLP) led to a strong overexpression of CD11b on the cells from the burn patients, this effect was not observed using cells of the second subgroup; (3) the content of polymerized actin was reduced within resting and stimulated cells from burn patients during the first 2 weeks postinjury, non-burn patient cells showed an enhanced F-actin content within the first week; (4) the ability of burn and non-burn patient cells to polymerize actin after stimulation with FMLP was slightly impaired during the first week post injury/admission. The results demonstrate that cells from patients endangered by sepsis show dysfunctions on the level of adhesion molecule expression and the strongly related actin polymerization. There are remarkable differences between patients with burn injuries and patients who were endangered by sepsis due to other injuries or diseases.