Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and complete myeloperoxidase deficiency both yield strongly reduced dihydrorhodamine 123 test signals but can be easily discerned in routine testing for CGD.

BACKGROUND The flow cytometric dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR) assay is used as a screening test for chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), but complete myeloperoxidase (MPO) deficiency can also lead to a strongly decreased DHR signal. Our aim was to devise simple laboratory methods to differentiate MPO deficiency (false positive for CGD) and NADPH oxidase abnormalities (true CGD). METHODS We measured NADPH-oxidase and MPO activity in neutrophils from MPO-deficient patients, CGD patients, NADPH-oxidase-transfected K562 cells and cells with inhibited and substituted MPO. RESULTS Eosinophils from MPO-deficient individuals retain eosinophilic peroxidase and therefore generate a normal DHR signal. The addition of recombinant human MPO enhances the DHR signal when simply added to a suspension of MPO-deficient cells but not when added to NADPH-oxidase-deficient (CGD) cells. Lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence (LCL) is increased in neutrophils from MPO-deficient patients, whereas neutrophils from patients with CGD show a decreased response. CONCLUSIONS A false-positive result caused by MPO deficiency can be easily ascertained because, unlike cells from a CGD patient, cells from MPO-deficient patients (a) contain functionally normal eosinophils, (b) show a significant enhancement of the DHR signal following addition of rhMPO, and (c) generate a strong LCL signal.