Use of hematopoietic growth factors in oncology

Myelosuppression is the main limiting factor in cancer chemotherapy. The development of recombinant hematopoietic growth factors which stimulate myeloid progenitors and mainly neutrophil precursor cells leads to the evaluation of their potential activity in numerous fields of oncology. The available clinical trials have demonstrated the ability of G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) and GM-CSF (granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) to accelerate neutrophil recovery following cytotoxic chemotherapy, and therefore to reduce the incidence of neutropenic febrile episodes and thereby improve the quality of life of patients receiving chemotherapy. The main goals of the future studies will be to determine to what extent the increase of dose intensity may lead to higher response rates and survival at least in patients with chemosensitive tumors.