LENOGRASTIM RAISES LEUKOCYTE ACTIVITY

The recombinant granulocyte colony stimulating factor developed by Chugai-Rhone-Poulenc, lenograstim, corrects defective neutrophil activity in patients with cancer as well as treating neutropenia, according to a presentation at the 8th Symposium of Molecular Biology of Hematopoiesis in Basel, Switzerland.

Anne-Marie Stoppa of the Institut Paoli Calmettes in Marseille, France, said that there are clear clinical benefits for the patient. In some patients with cancer, she said, not only are neutrophil numbers reduced, but some neutrophil functions (phagocytosis and cell killing capability) are also defective.

Dr Stoppa incubated neutrophils with a common nosocomial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and treated one group with lenograstim. She found that the rate of bacterial killing by neutrophils doubled after lenograstim administration.