The mechanisms responsible for the unusual susceptibility of multiple myeloma (MM) patients to infections are incompletely defined. Since MM is associated with decreased production of normal serum proteins, we investigated the possibility that the production of opsonins might also be impaired. The neutrophil chemiluminescence assay of opsonization was used to evaluate the ability of serum from ...

Mycoplasma pneumoniae cells are not phagocytized by peritoneal macrophages without opsonization. They are taken up after treatment with complement or antibody.

The bacterium Francisella tularensis (Ft) is a potential weapon of bioterrorism when aerosolized. Macrophage infection is necessary for disease progression and efficient phagocytosis by human macrophages requires serum opsonization by complement. Microbial complement activation leads to surface deposition of a highly regulated protein complex resulting in opsonization or membrane lysis. The nat...

Complement-mediated opsonization of encapsulated Staphylococcus aureus (CP+) of the predominant capsule types, 5 and 8, remains poorly understood. Our previous work showed that complement is important for mouse survival of CP+ type 5 bacteremia and that the type 5 capsule inhibits the binding of opsonic C3 fragments to the organism. The importance of complement-mediated opsonization of CP+ was ...

Preincubation of Haemophilus influenzae with antibiotics may influence opsonophagocytosis as studied by chemiluminescence. Two strains of H. influenzae (strain 1 [type b] and strain 2 [uncapsulated]) were pretreated with erythromycin, roxithromycin, clarithromycin, and azithromycin for 1 h in Haemophilus test medium (the last 25 min was either without serum or with 10% fresh serum or 10% decomp...