Direct comparison of the effects of CSF-1 (M-CSF) and GM-CSF on human monocyte DNA synthesis and CSF receptor expression

Abstract

There is evidence that a proportion of human monocytes can proliferate in vitro in response to colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1, also known as M- CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF). To determine whether there are differences in DNA synthesis responses to these CSF, a large study using purified human peripheral blood monocytes from 45 donors was performed under optimized culture conditions. In contrast to the consistent response to CSF- 1, approximately 20% of donors have monocytes that do not respond or have a minimal DNA synthesis response to GM-CSF stimulation. However, analysis demonstrated that no statistically significant differences exist in the levels of CSF-1 and GM-CSF-s..