title: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor promotes the proliferation of human alveolar macrophages in vitro.
abstract: The effects of granulocyte-macrophage (GM-CSF) or macrophage-CSF on in vitro proliferation of human alveolar macrophages (AM) were evaluated. AM of healthy volunteers incubated with recombinant human GM-CSF revealed incorporation of [3H]thymidine in vitro. The maximum incorporation was observed at 20 U/ml of GM-CSF on day 3. The proportion of proliferating cells incubated with 20 U/ml of GM-CSF from day 3 to day 4 was 8 to 11% of the total, whereas 3 to 5% of cells proliferated without GM-CSF. The number of cell nuclei increased 1.30- to 1.68-fold in the initial 7 days during incubation with 20 U/ml of GM-CSF, whereas there was a 1.07- to 1.13-fold increase without GM-CSF. Conditioned media obtained by the incubation with human lung tissue exhibited similar effects as recombinant human GM-CSF on macrophages. The effects were completely abrogated by antibody against human GM-CSF. Immunohistochemically, GM-CSF was detected in lung cells including AM, alveolar epithelium, alveolar interstitial cells, and endothelial cells. In contrast, recombinant macrophage-CSF did not induce the proliferation of human AM, although it has been known to promote the proliferation of murine AM. These observations suggest that GM-CSF plays an important role among the regulatory factors that locally support the population of AM in human lungs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular Immunology, National Institute of Health, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Akagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukayama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kadokura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002452:Cell Count; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005260:Female; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000032:analysis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016173:Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D012907:Smoking / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016173:Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D004247:DNA