EFFECTS OF MACROPHAGE-COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR (M-CSF) ON LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE (LPS)-INDUCED MEDIATOR PRODUCTION FROM MONOCYTES IN-VITRO

M-CSF is a macrophage-lineage-specific growth factor that causes proli feration and differentiation of progenitor cells in the bone marrow To investigate the effects of M-CSF on more matured cells, human monocyt es were cultured in the presence or absence of M-CSF for 6 days. Addit ion of M-CSF at more than 10(2) U/ml resulted in higher viability and caused morphological differentiation to large macrophage-like cells. L PS-induced mediator production was also compared between M-CSF-treated and control cell. Monocytes were incubated with or without M-CSF for 3 days, and were stimulated with 1 mu g/ml of LPS for 2 days. IL-IP wa s not detected in the both culture supernatants, and PGE(2) production was not influenced by M-CSF. However, amounts of G-CSF, GM-CSF, IL-6, and TNF-alpha produced in response to 1 mu g/ml of LPS were 1.5 to 2 rimes greater from monocytes treated with 10(4) U/ml of M-CSF than fro m control cells. The priming effect of M-CSF on LPS-induced cytokine p roduction was found to require 3-day preincubation, and reached a maxi mum at the concentration of 10(4) U/ml. M-CSF-treated cells responded to a 10 times lower concentration of LPS than control cells in terms o f cytokine production. M-CSF was also shown by flowcytometric analysis to influence the expression of CD14, a receptor for LPS, which might render monocytes more sensitive to LPS.