title: Hairy cell leukemia: defective production of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor by peripheral blood cells.
abstract: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) production by the peripheral blood (PB) cells of hairy cell leukemia (HCL) patients whose PB contained only 2 to 10% hairy cells was studied in an in vitro bone marrow culture system. In addition, the possible inhibitory effect on the growth of normal granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC) by the patients' mononuclear cells or serum was assayed. GM-CSF production by PB cells of HCL patients was 82 +/- 18% (mean +/- sd) lower than its production by normal PB cells. No significant inhibition of normal GM-CFC growth was observed in the presence of patients' PB mononuclear cells or their serum. These findings suggest that in HCL patients the monocyte-macrophage system is defective in its capacity to produce GM-CSF. This defect may play a role in the impaired granulocyte production known to occur in HCL.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D003115:Colony-Stimulating Factors / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007943:Leukemia, Hairy Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008264:Macrophages; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D003115:Colony-Stimulating Factors