Synergistic interaction between interleukin-12 and steel factor in support
of proliferation of murine lymphohematopoietic progenitors in culture
F Hirayama, N Katayama, S Neben, D Donaldson, EB Nickbarg, SC Clark and M Ogawa
Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
We have investigated the effects of interleukin (IL)-12 (natural killer
cell stimulatory factor/cytotoxic lymphocyte maturation factor) on the
proliferation of murine myeloid and lymphohematopoietic progenitors in
methylcellulose culture. In the presence of erythropoietin (Ep), IL-12
alone failed to support colony formation by mononuclear and enriched marrow
cells of normal mice. Steel factor (SF) alone supported primarily formation
of granulocyte/macrophage (GM) colony formation. However, the combination
of the two cytokines yielded a significant number of multilineage colonies.
When tested on marrow cells from 5- fluorouracil (5-FU)-treated mice, the
combination of IL-12 and SF, but not the single factors, was effective in
support of formation of various types of colonies. Approximately 25% of
these colonies yielded pre-B-cell colonies when replated in secondary
culture containing SF and IL-7, indicating that IL-12 can interact with SF
in supporting the development of primitive lymphohematopoietic progenitors.
These results demonstrate that IL-12, a cytokine believed to be involved in
the development of cell-mediated immune responses, has a wider range of
activity, including committed myeloid and multipotent lymphohematopoietic
progenitors.
Volume 83,
Issue 1,
pp. 92-98,
01/01/1994
Copyright © 1994 by The American Society of Hematology
