Peripheral blood hematopoietic progenitors (PBHP) are capable of colony growth in vitro. The effect of stem cell factor (SCF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on myeloid colony proliferation of PBHP was determined. PBHP purified by positive selection with CD34-specific antibody were plated in semisolid agarose with reported plateau doses of interleukin-3 (IL-3), granulocyte- macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and granulocyte colony- stimulating factor (G-CSF) to enhance myeloid colony growth. Experiments then were done to examine colony growth in response to SCF or with SCF and bFGF and/or IL6. SCF alone in the absence of any other growth factors did not support colony growth. SCF at a determined optimum concentration of 100 ng/mL added to the combination of IL-3, GM- CSF, and G-CSF enhanced colony growth and size relative to proliferation in response to the latter three factors alone (from 78 to 188 total colonies/10(4) PBHP plated and from 10 to 93 large [> 200 cells] colonies/10(4) PBHP plated). Furthermore, addition of bFGF and/or IL-6 to the combination of optimum concentrations of SCF, IL-3, GM-CSF, and G-CSF further enhanced colony number and size in a dose- dependent fashion. Using the optimum combination of all growth factors, we determined that the number of myeloid colony-forming PBHP in whole blood was similar between individuals at about three colonies per milliliter whole blood. We conclude that progenitors capable of responding to the early-acting growth factor, SCF, are represented in PBHP and that the number of circulating myeloid colony-forming PBHP is likely a regulated parameter that may have an important biologic function.
Stem cell factor leads to reduced blood processing during apheresis or the use of whole blood aliquots to support dose-intensive chemotherapy
