Effect of prostaglandin E on immune function in normal healthy volunteers.

Prostaglandin E (PGE) has been hypothesized to be the endogenous metabolite that results in the immunosuppression seen in patients with tumor and trauma. This has resulted in multiple investigators proposing that administration of PGE inhibitors, such as aspirin and indomethacin, might improve immune function in such patients. We administered a long acting PGE analog, misoprostol, to nine normal healthy volunteers for five days and assayed immune function before and after therapy. The PGE analog improved lymphocyte blastogenesis and increased tumor necrosis factor production. The PGE analog also resulted in the volunteers having symptoms similar to those seen in patients with sepsis. The results of these studies indicate that elevated levels of PGE do not seem to result in impairment of immune function, but may be the endogenous metabolite responsible for the symptologic factors seen in infected patients.