| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
By
From the Department of Medicine, University of Washington and the Puget Sound Blood Center, Seattle, WA; and Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA.
The MpL ligand (ML) is a potent stimulus for thrombocytopoiesis. To create an in vivo model of ML deficiency, we injected dogs with a recombinant human ML (rhML) to determine whether cross-reacting antibodies would develop and cause thrombocytopenia. RhML was administered subcutaneously for 8 weeks to three normal dogs (mean platelets, 197 ± 5.5 × 103/µL). Within 5 days their platelet counts were twice baseline and greater than 4 times baseline by day 21. Then, uniformly, chronic thrombocytopenia developed. At 1 week after terminating rhML, mean platelets were 0.5 times baseline and at 2 months 0.25 times baseline. Early in treatment, marrow biopsies showed increased megakaryocyte number and ploidy, which decreased as platelets declined. Paralleling these changes, high titer anti-rhML antibodies developed. Autologous 51Cr-labeled platelet recovery and survival measurements indicated that the thrombocytopenia was principally due to decreased production. Infusion of plasma from the thrombocytopenic dogs into two normal dogs and one dog previously made thrombocytopenic with rhML caused platelet counts to fall gradually. These studies show that dogs with anti-rhML antibodies develop thrombocytopenia, presumably because the cross-reacting antibodies neutralize endogenous canine ML. The results strongly suggest that ML plays an essential role in maintaining normal platelet levels.
IN 1994, SEVERAL research groups identified the ligand for the cytokine receptor c-Mpl and subsequently showed that it is a potent stimulus to platelet production.1-5 Bone marrow CD34+ cells express c-Mpl and selectively differentiate to megakaryocytes on exposure to the c-Mpl ligand (ML).2,6,7 Mice with embryonal stem cell disruption of the c-Mpl or ML genes are thrombocytopenic,8,9 and mice overexpressing c-Mpl ligand have markedly increased marrow megakaryocytes.10 Accumulating evidence also indicates that there is a reciprocal relationship between plasma levels of ML and platelet counts.11
Across mammalian species there are close homologies for the hematopoietic growth factors, but the amino acid sequences are species specific. For this reason human growth factors administered to animals may lead to development of cross-reacting antibodies that neutralize the biologic activities of the native molecule. This is the proposed mechanism of the anemia in dogs administered recombinant human erythropoietin12 and the neutropenia in dogs after administration of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF ).13 These experiments also showed the critical role of these specific growth factors in maintaining normal blood levels of erythrocytes and neutrophils. To extend these studies and investigate the role of ML in maintaining normal platelet counts, we administered recombinant human ML (rhML) to dogs and observed the acute and chronic effects on platelet counts.
Dogs
Growth Factors
Blood and Bone Marrow Examination Complete blood counts (CBCs) were performed daily using a Coulter Counter (model T-540, Hialeah, FL) and differential counts on Wright's stained smears were performed manually. All counts were performed just before injection of growth factors. Bone marrow aspirates and biopsies from the iliac crest were performed on anesthetized animals and prepared by standard methods.Autologous Chromium-51 (Cr51 ) Platelet Kinetics Autologous platelet kinetic studies were performed as previously described.14 Acid citrate dextrose (ACD) anticoagulated venous blood (30 mL, 1:10 ACD to whole blood) was removed and the platelets separated by centrifugation and labeled by incubating with 300 µCi 51Cr. The labeled platelets were then reinfused and 3 mL blood samples were drawn serially for 5 days to determine blood platelet specific activity. Platelet survival was calculated from the specific activity data using the least squares method and recovery determined by extrapolation to time 0.15 By this method, normal mean (± standard error of mean [SEM]) recovery is 55% ± 1% and mean platelet survival is 5.4 ± 0.1 days.Plasma Collection On days 49 through 56 after initiation of rhML, approximately 25 mL/d of ACD plasma was collected from each dog and frozen at -80°C for later infusion studies.Antibody Assays Anti-ML assays. Serum samples were analyzed for specific neutralization of ML using a modification of a previously described assay.3 Murine 32D cells transfected with the human Mpl receptor were suspended in Minimum Essential Media (GIBCO, Grand Island, NY) supplemented with 10% Fetal Clone II (Hyclone, Colorado Springs, CO) plus 250 pg/mL rhML (Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA) and plated at 10,000 cells/well (200 µL total volume/well) in 96-well tissue culture plates (Becton Dickinson Labware, Lincoln Park, NJ). The standard curve for anti-ML antibody activity was generated using serial dilution of a polyclonal rabbit anti-rhML diluted in normal serum. Cultures were incubated for 48 hours at 37°C in humidified air with 10% CO2 .Anti-IL-6 Antibody Assay A commercial immunoassay kit for IL-6 (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) with a sensitivity range for measurement of IL-6 of 2 to 200 pg/mL was used to detect antibodies to IL-6. The presence of antibody was detected by addition of the study dog's serum to the standard assay. Normal canine serum was used as a control.Study Protocol Serial CBCs, bone marrow aspirate, and biopsy were performed pretreatment and rhML was administered daily (6.25 µg/kg for 2 weeks, 12.5 µg/kg for 2 weeks, 25 µg/kg for 4 weeks). The dogs were then observed with serial blood cell counts for 6 months or until platelet counts were greater than 100 × 103/µL. In one dog at 3 weeks after the rhML injections were completed, daily injections of rhIL-6 were administered at 25 µg/kg/d for 28 days.Statistics All values are presented as mean ± SEM unless otherwise noted. The Student's t-test (two-tailed) was used for all statistical comparisons.
Administration of rhML caused no local or systemic reactions in any of the dogs. Blood Cell Counts Treatment-induced thrombocytosis in all three animals. Platelet counts rose from 171 ± 54 × 103/µL to a peak of 841 ± 219 × 103/µL by day 19 (P < .05) (see Fig 1A-C and Table 1). In all three dogs, while therapy with rhML continued, platelet counts fell despite increasing dose. Platelet nadirs occurred at approximately 2 to 3 months after initiation of rhML treatment. The counts then gradually recovered, taking more than 3 months from the nadir to recover to a level greater than 100 × 103/µL. Hematocrit levels gradually rose over the whole study period in these young dogs, but not while on rhML treatment, probably due to blood loss with the platelet kinetic studies and other blood tests. The rhML treatment caused a significant increase in neutrophil counts in two of the three dogs (Table 1), but these counts returned to baseline levels when rhML was discontinued.
Bone Marrow Examinations Compared with the pretreatment bone marrows, all three dogs showed only an increase in marrow megakaryocytes at 1 week on treatment, as reported in other studies.9,16-19 Subsequent biopsies at 5, 6, 10, and 16 weeks after initiation of rhML showed only decreased marrow megakaryocytes with pycnotic nuclei. Marrows performed after platelet counts had returned to normal were similar to baseline.Platelet Kinetic Studies Platelet kinetic studies were performed at 2, 3, and 5 weeks of therapy, timed to correspond to increasing, peak, and declining platelet counts. These studies showed normal percent recovery, but statistically significant decreases in platelet survival for the studies on weeks 2 and 5 (Table 2).
Anti-rhML Antibodies Before treatment, the sera for all three dogs were negative for anti-ML antibodies. With treatment, antibodies neutralizing ML developed, with increases over baseline by about 3 weeks and peaking approximately 2 to 3 months after initiation of treatment (see Fig 1A-C). Subsequently, the antibody titers declined gradually as the dogs' platelet counts returned to normal. Titrations of individual serum samples showed that for the period corresponding to the nadir of platelet counts and the peak of antibody activity, the serum samples were completely inhibitory of recombinant human ML at all dilutions up to 1:800. Using IgG purified from these samples, identical results were obtained.Recombinant hIL-6 Therapy One dog, while thrombocytopenic, was administered rhIL-6 at a dose of 25 µg/kg subcutaneously for 4 weeks (see Fig 1C). During this period, there was a small, but statistically significant, increase in the platelet count. Platelet counts averaged 85.0 ± 1.75 × 103/µL for the 3 weeks before this treatment. They were 95.9 ± 1.9 × 103 µL (P < .05) on rhIL-6 and 76.5 ± 2.85 × 103/µL for the 4 weeks after IL-6 treatment (P < .05 for comparison of before and on rh IL-6). Assays for serum antibodies to rhIL-6 performed at the end of IL-6 therapy showed complete inhibition of the rhIL-6 standard at the highest concentration tested (50 pg/mL) indicating that an immunizing dose of the human protein had been administered.Plasma Infusions Two dogs with normal platelet counts, were infused with 120 mL of plasma from dogs made thrombocytopenic by administration of rhML. In both of these dogs, platelet counts decreased gradually over the next 3 to 4 weeks, reaching a nadir of approximately 0.5 times baseline (Fig 2). In a third dog, one of the dogs treated with rhML, reinfusion of the dog's own plasma caused thrombocytopenia, with a drop in the platelet count also occurring gradually over a 5-week period (Fig 2).
This study shows that rhML is a potent stimulus for increasing platelet production in dogs, results consistent with reports in other species. In this study, the evidence for increased platelet production includes the increase in platelet counts and the increase in marrow megakaryocytes. Gradually the dogs, however, failed to maintain the rhML-induced thrombocytosis. Beginning about 2 and a half weeks after starting the rhML injections, they gradually developed moderately severe thrombocytopenia. This occurred concomitant with the development of an IgG antibody response to rhML. Both a modest decrease in platelet survival and marked decrease in marrow megakaryocytes developed, suggesting that the dominant effect of the antibody was to reduce platelet production. Although we have not shown that the antibodies produced in these dogs are reacting with endogenous canine ML, we believe this is the likely mechanism because of known differences in the amino acid sequence for human and canine ML.19 Cross-reacting and neutralizing antibodies to homologous proteins administered repeatedly have been demonstrated for insulin and other hormones in addition to the hematopoietic growth factors, erythropoietin and G-CSF.12,13
Submitted February 5, 1997;
accepted June 26, 1997.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hearly marked ``advertisment'' in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of Linda Weber, Elin Rodger, Richard Person, Nathan Bittner, Michael Chan, Craig Abrams, and Niket Shrivastava and the assistance of Phyllis Child in preparing this manuscript.
1. deSauvage FJ, Hass PE, Spencer SD, Malloy BE, Gurney AL, Spencer SA, Darbonne WC, Henzel WJ, Wong SC, Kuang WJ, Oles KJ, Hultgren B, Solberg LA Jr, Goeddel DV, Eaton DL: Stimulation of megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis by the c-Mpl ligand. Nature 369:533, 1994[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve] 2. Lok S, Kaushansky K, Hgolly RD, Kuijper JL, Lofton-Day CE, Oort PJ, Grant FJ, Heipel MD, Burkhead SK, Kramer JM, Bell LA, Sprecher CA, Blumberg H, Johnson R, Prunkard D, Ching AFT, Mathewes SL, Bailey MC, Forstrom JW, Buddle MM, Osborn SG, Evans SJ, Sheppard PO, Presnell SR, O'Hara PJ, Hagen FS, Roth GJ, Foster DC: Cloning and expression of murine thrombopoietin cDNA and stimulation of platelet production in vivo. Nature 369:565, 1994[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve] 3. Bartley TD, Bogenberger J, Hunt P, Li YS, Lu HS, Martin F, Chang MS, Samal B, Nichol JL, Swift S, Johnson MJ, Hsu R-Y, Parker VP, Suggs S, Skrine JD, Merewether LA, Clogston C, Hsu E, Hokom MM, Hornkohl A, Choi E, Pangelinan M, Sun Y, Mar V, McNinch J, Simonet L, Jacobsen F, Xie C, Shutter J, Chute H, Basu R, Selander L, Trollinger D, Sieu L, Padilla D, Trail G, Elliott G, Izumi R, Covey T, Crouse J, Garcia A, Xu W, Del Castillo J, Biron J, Cole S, Hu MC-T, Pacifici R, Ponting I, Saris C, Wen D, Yung YP, Lin H, Bosselman RA: Identification and cloning of a megakaryocyte growth and development factor that is a ligand for the cytokine receptor Mpl. Cell 77:1117, 1994[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
4.
Foster DC,
Sprecher CA,
Grant FJ,
Kramer JM,
Kuijper JL,
Holly RD,
Whitmore TE,
Heipel MD,
Bell LA,
Ching AF,
McGrane V,
Hart C,
O'Hara PJ,
Lok S:
Human thrombopoietin: Gene structure, cDNA sequence, expression, and chromosomal localization.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
91:13023,
1994
5.
Kaushansky K:
Thrombopoietin: The primary regulator of platelet production.
Blood
86:419,
1995
6.
Debili N,
Wendling F,
Katz A,
Guichard J,
Breton-Gorius J,
Hunt P,
Vainchenker W:
The Mpl-ligand or thrombopoietin or megakaryocyte growth and differentiative factor has both direct proliferative and differentiative activities on human megakaryocyte progenitors.
Blood
86:2516,
1995 7. Angchaisuksiri P, Carlson PL, Dessypris EN: Effects of recombinant human thrombopoietin on megakaryocyte colony formation and megakaryocyte ploidy by human CD34+ cells in a serum-free system. Br J Haematol 93:13, 1996[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
8.
Gurney AL,
Carver-Moore K,
deSauvage FJ,
Moore MW:
Thrombocytopenia in c-mpl-deficient mice.
Science
265:1445,
1994
9.
deSauvage FJ,
Carver-Moore K,
Luoh S-M,
Ryan A,
Dowd M,
Eaton DL,
Moore MW:
Physiological regulation of early and late stages of megakaryocytopoiesis by thrombopoitin.
J Exp Med
183:651,
1996
10.
Yan X-Q,
Lacey D,
Fletcher F,
Hartley C,
McElroy P,
Sun Y,
Xia M,
Mu S,
Saris C,
Hill D,
Hawley RG,
McNiece IK:
Chronic exposure to retroviral vector encloded MGDF (mpl-Ligand) induces lineage-specific growth and differentiation of megakaryocytes in mice.
Blood
86:4025,
1995
11.
Kuter DJ,
Rosenberg RD:
The reciprocal relationship of thrombopoietin (c-Mpl ligand) to changes in the platelet mass during busulfan-induced thrombocytopenia in the rabbit.
Blood
85:2720,
1995 12. Cowgill LD: Pathophysiology and management of anemia in chronic progressive renal failure. Semin Vet Med Surg (Small Anim) 7:175, 1992[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve] 13. Hammond WP, Csiba E, Canin A, Souza LM, Dale DC: Chronic neutropenia: A new canine model induced by human G-CSF. J Clin Invest 87:704, 1991
14.
O'Donnell MR,
Slichter SJ,
Weiden PL,
Storb R:
Platelet and fibrinogen kinetics in canine tumors.
Cancer Res
41:1379,
1981 15. Slichter SJ, O'Donnell MR, Weiden PL, Storb R, Schroeder M-L: Canine platelet alloimmuniation: The role of donor selection. Br J Haematol 63:713, 1986[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve] 16. Kaushansky K, Lok S, Holly RD, Broudy VC, Lin N, Bailey MC, Forstrom JW, Buddle MM, Oort PJ, Hagen FS, Roth GJ, Papayannopoulou T, Foster DC: Promotion of megakaryocyte progenitor expansion and differentiation by the c-Mpl ligand thrombopoietin. Nature 369:568, 1994[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
17.
Farese AM,
Hunt P,
Boone T,
MacVittie TJ:
Recombinant human megakaryocyte growth and development factor stimulates thrombocytopoiesis in normal nonhuman primates.
Blood
86:54,
1995 18. Hunt P: The physiologic role and therapeutic potential of the Mpl-ligand in thrombopoiesis. Stem Cells 13:579, 1995
19.
Hunt P,
Li YS,
Nichol JL,
Hokom MM,
Bogenberger JM,
Swift SE,
Skrine JD,
Hornkohl AC,
Lu H,
Clogston C,
Merewether LA,
Johnson MJ,
Parker V,
Knudten A,
Farese A,
Hsu RY,
Garcia A,
Stead R,
Bosselman RA,
Bartley TD:
Purification and biologic characterization of plasma-derived megakaryocyte growth and development factor.
Blood
86:540,
1995
20.
Ku Hsun,
Yonemura Y,
Kaushansky K,
Ogawa M:
Thrombopoietin, the ligand for the Mpl receptor, synergizes with steel factor and other early acting cytokines in supporting proliferation of primitive hematopoietic progenitors of mice.
Blood
87:4544,
1996 21. Kaushansky K, Broudy VC, Grossmann A, Humes J, Lin N, Ren HP, Bailey MC, Papayannopoulou T, Forstrom JW, Sprugel KH: Thrombopoietin expands erythroid progenitors, increases red cell production, and enhances erythroid recovery after myelosuppressive therapy. J Clin Invest 96:1683, 1995 22. Williams N: Is thrombopoietin interleukin 6? Exp Hematol 19:714, 1991[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
23.
Peng J,
Friese P,
Wolf RF,
Harrison P,
Downs T,
Lok S,
Dale GL,
Burstein SA:
Relative reactivity of platelets from thrombopoietin- and interleukin-6 treated dogs.
Blood
87:4158,
1995 24. Nash RA, Seidel K, Storb R, Slichter S, Schuening FG, Appelbaum FR, Becker AB, Bolles L, Deeg HJ, Graham T, Hackman RC, Burstein SA: Effects of rhIL-11 on normal dogs and after sublethal radiation. Exp Hematol 23:389, 1995[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve] © 1997 by The American Society of Hematology.This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 1997 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||