A novel arachidonic acid metabolite with stimulatory effect on PHA-induced mitogenesis of lymphocytes.

The isolation of a novel arachidonic acid (Aa) metabolite from the supernatant of unstimulated human cord blood mononuclear leucocytes is reported. The metabolite, arbitrarily named 'compound 4' is neither a known lipoxygenase nor a cyclooxygenase product. 'Compound 4' was added to PHA-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear leucocytes (PBML) from healthy blood donors, from mothers at term and from patients with immunodeficiency. 'Compound 4' induced an increase in the 3H-TdR incorporation by the maternal PBML and by the PBML from patients with various immunodeficiencies such as Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and common variable immunodeficiency, whereas it had no effect on the proliferation of PBML from blood donors.