Purified interleukin-3 and erythropoietin support the terminal
differentiation of hemopoietic progenitors in serum-free culture
J Suda, T Suda, K Kubota, JN Ihle, M Saito and Y Miura
We studied the effect of purified interleukin-3 (IL-3) and erythropoietin
on colony formation by hemopoietic progenitors in serum- free cultures of
spleen cells from 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-treated mice. In the presence of
IL-3 alone, most of the multilineage (three or more lineages) colonies did
not contain erythroid cells. However, in the presence of IL-3 and
erythropoietin, most of the multilineage colonies contained various numbers
of erythroid cells. Replating experiments suggest that IL-3 maintains the
growth of the progenitor cells, which could differentiate into erythroid
cells. Erythropoietin facilitated the terminal differentiation and
amplification of erythroid cells, although it did not sustain the growth of
multipotential stem cells. Single-cell transfer experiments demonstrate
that IL-3 supported the late stages of differentiation of neutrophils,
macrophages, eosinophils, and megakaryocytes in the absence of
lineage-specific factors. Therefore, IL-3 supports the differentiation of
multilineage hemopoietic progenitors, and the terminal differentiation of
most hemopoietic lineages, with the exception of the erythroid lineage.
Volume 67,
Issue 4,
pp. 1002-1006,
04/01/1986
Copyright © 1986 by The American Society of Hematology
