A Variant of Chronic Granulomatous Disease: Deficient Oxidative Metabolism Due to a Low-Affinity NADPH Oxidase

Abstract

OUR defense against bacterial infections depends in part on the action of phagocytic leukocytes, which encounter and kill potentially pathogenic microorganisms. A severe reduction in the number or function of phagocytic leukocytes may predispose a person to peculiar, recurrent, or unusually severe infections. One of the first examples of such an impairment discovered was a genetic disorder called chronic granulomatous disease (CGD).¹ Phagocytic leukocytes from patients with CGD have an impaired ability to kill certain microorganisms, because the phagocytes cannot produce metabolites of oxygen that are toxic to these microbes.^{2 , 3} It is believed that an appropriate perturbation of the phagocyte's . . .