International Journal of Cell Cloning, Vol 8, 54-62, Copyright © 1990 by AlphaMed Press
Response of leukemic cells to the sequential combination of GM-CSF and G-CSF
C Inoue, T Murate, T Hotta and H Saito
Department of Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
We designed two experiments using delayed stimulation by
granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or granulocyte
colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) with colony-type analysis in order to
elucidate the characteristics of factor-dependent proliferation and
differentiation of leukemic progenitor cells. Eight patients with acute
myelogenous leukemia showing non-autonomous colony growth were selected.
Three of the six cases showed that delayed addition of G-CSF to agar
culture initiated by GM-CSF had no influence on the type and number of
colonies; whereas, delayed addition of GM-CSF to G-CSF resulted in
additional GM colonies. These findings were the same for normal bone marrow
progenitors. In two cases, granulocytic colonies markedly increased with
delayed addition of G-CSF to GM-CSF. Synergism occurred in one case where
GM-CSF was used first. In the next experiment, regardless of whether CSF
was used during the 48 hour preincubation, subsequent colony types were
affected by the CSF used in agar culture. But colony numbers increased 1.5
fold in two of six cases by preincubation with GM-CSF, and 1.2 to 1.7 fold
in all normal cases by preincubation with G-CSF. These results suggest that
although there is a great heterogeneity in the response to CSF, some
leukemic progenitors act like normal progenitors.
