Comparative analysis of the influences of IL-1, IL-3 and GM-CSF on the commitment of granulocyte-macrophage progenitors in vitro

Summary Our experiments were directed towards the detection of the influence of interleukin-1 (IL-1); interleukin-3 (IL-3), and granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor (GM-CSF) on the generation of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells. We also set out to examine whether this process is connected with changes within the early precursor cell compartment. Bone marrow suspension cultures (12 days) supplemented with these cytokines were tested for the presence of GM colony-forming cells (GM-CFC) in a colony-forming unit assay. The percentage of CD 34⁺ and HLA-DR⁺ as well as the number of blasts and promyelocytes were estimated cytofluorometrically and morphologically. The proliferative effect of GM-CSF was associated with a net increase of GM-CFC and HLA-DR⁺ myeloid cells and a decrease in the percentage of CD 34⁺ early precursor cells. IL-3 acted similarly and also caused an absolute decrease of CD 34⁺ cells in the cultures. IL-1 did not stimulate the generation of blasts or GM-CFC but elevated the number of CD 34^– as well as HLA-DR-expressing cells in the cultures. These results imply that GM-CSF supported the maintenance of hematopoiesis in vitro. The transition from early precursor cells to committed myeloid progenitor cells (GM-CFC) and more mature precursor cells (G-CFC, M-CFC) may be supported by GM-CSF without affecting the self-renewing capacity of CD 34⁺ early precursors. In contrast, the blast-generating and proliferation-inducing action of IL-3 is associated with a drop in the total number of CD 34⁺ stem cells. An efficient renewal of this population obviously depends on the presence of IL-1.