0000000000181532

AUTHOR

Albrecht Lindemann

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor induces cytokine secretion by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is known as an inducer of proliferation and functional activation of myeloid cells. This study was carried out to characterize the effects of GM-CSF on polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) more extensively. Using Northern blot analysis, we show that PMN are able to accumulate mRNAs for different cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha); G-CSF, and M-CSF, all of which are involved in inflammation and hematopoiesis. Biological assays and immunoassays demonstrate that PMN translate these mRNAs, except TNF-alpha, into secretory proteins. However, the expression of these cytokines is dependent on stimulation by exogenous…

research product

Erythropoietin for the treatment of anemia of malignancy associated with neoplastic bone marrow infiltration.

This clinical trial was performed to study the effects of intravenously (IV) administered recombinant human (rh) erythropoietin (EPO) at escalating doses (150, 300, and 450 U/kg, administered as an IV bolus injection, twice weekly, for 6, 4, and 4 weeks, respectively) in five patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (Ig NHL) and bone marrow involvement and one patient with multiple myeloma (MM). All patients were anemic due to underlying disease. None of the patients had a history of bleeding, hemolysis, renal insufficiency, or other disorders causing anemia in addition to bone marrow infiltrating malignancy. Endogenous EPO serum levels were significantly increased in all patients (7…

research product

The suppressive effects of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor‐alpha on normal and malignant myelopoiesis: Synergism with interferon‐gamma

The modulation of growth of normal and leukemic myeloid progenitor cells in soft agar cultures by recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) and recombinant human interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) was investigated. TNF alpha inhibited colony formation of all colony types representing different maturational stages of normal progenitor cells committed to the myeloid lineage with different orders of sensitivity. Blast-type colonies derived from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia were more sensitive to TNF alpha inhibition than progenitor cells purified from normal bone marrow or bone marrow from patients with stable-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia. The response of most colon…

research product

A phase-II study of low-dose cyclophosphamide and recombinant human interleukin-2 in metastatic renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma.

Recent preclinical and clinical studies that have demonstrated antitumor activity of high-dose recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2), and animal models that demonstrated a synergistic effect of low-dose cyclophosphamide, led us to study rIL-2 (Cetus Corp., Emeryville, Calif) in a phase II clinical trial in combination with low-dose cyclophosphamide in 32 patients, 18 with malignant melanoma and 14 with renal cell carcinoma. rIL-2 was given once daily at 3 x 10(6) U/m2, as a 30-min infusion for 14 days in cycle I and for 2 x 5 days in cycles II and III respectively; if tolerated, the dose was increased to a maximum of 6 x 10(6) U m-2 day-1; the cycles, separated by 1 week treatment-free interval…

research product

High-level secretion of tumor necrosis factor-alpha contributes to hematopoietic failure in hairy cell leukemia [see comments]

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is frequently associated with severe pancytopenia. The authors detected high levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in the bone marrow serum of patients with HCL and found anti-TNF-alpha neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) to be able to enhance hematopoiesis of HCL patients in in vitro colony assays. As potent producers of TNF-alpha, hairy cells could be identified, thus implicating the malignant population in the pathogenesis of hematopoietic failure due to inappropriate secretion of this cytokine.

research product

MACOP-B chemotherapy for the treatment of high grade and intermediate grade non Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Between Nov. 1985 and Nov. 1988, sixty-three patients with high grade malignant (hg) and intermediate grade malignant (img) Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) were treated with MACOP-B (methotrexate, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone and bleomycin). Thirty-seven patients received MACOP-B as an upfront treatment modality, whereas twenty-six patients had relapsed disease and received MACOP-B as a salvage protocol. Four weeks after termination of therapy, 75% of patients with de novo NHL and 72% of the patients with relapsed NHL were in complete remission (CR). In the group of newly diagnosed NHL, 22% achieved partial remission (PR) and 3% no change (NC), whereas in the group wi…

research product

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF) and multilineage CSF recruit human monocytes to express granulocyte CSF

Abstract We assessed the capacity of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and multilineage (Multi)-CSF to induce release of granulocyte-CSF (G-CSF) by highly purified peripheral blood monocyte (Mo) preparations. Our results reveal that GM-CSF and Multi-CSF, either alone or in a synergistic concert, activate Mo to transcribe G-CSF messenger (m) RNA and release biologically active G- CSF protein into their culture supernatants. G-CSF had no regulatory effect on Mo expression of cytoplasmic G-CSF mRNA levels and G-CSF protein secretion by itself. These differential actions of CSFs provide further insight into self-regulatory mechanisms within the growth f…

research product

Incidence of lineage promiscuity in acute myeloblastic leukemia: Diagnostic implications of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene rearrangement analysis and immunological phenotyping

Abstract Sixty-nine blood or bone marrow samples from both children and adults with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) were investigated to elucidate the frequency of immunoglobulin (IG) and T-cell receptor (TCR)-gene rearrangements. Non-germline configuration for the IG heavy chain (h) gene was detected in the specimens of nine patients of various subtypes according to the French-American-British classification (FAB), including FAB M1, M2, M4 and M5. Rearrangement of the IG kappa chain (k) gene was present in one of these cases which simultaneously revealed a rearranged TCR-beta (b) chain gene. In another two AML samples we found TCR-b gene rearrangements, in one case in combination with an…

research product

Low-Dose Aclacinomycin and Intermediate-Dose Cytosine Arabinoside in Relapsed and Refractory Acute Myelogenous Leukemia

Nineteen patients with relapsed or refractory acute myelogenous leukemia were treated with escalating doses of aclacinomycin (ACLA 20–30 mg/m2 daily for 5 days) and intermediate-dose cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C 1 g/m2 twice daily for 4 days). Most patients had received previous therapy with high- or intermediate-dose Ara-C plus mitoxantrone (HAM, IAM) and TAD (6-thioguanine, standard-dose cytosine arabinoside, and daunorubicin). Four patients had had repeated relapses and another three were treated for primary treatment failure following induction with HAM or I AM.

research product

Minimal peripheral blood cells carrying clonal markers of b cell disorders: Evidence for monoclonality of circulating lymphocytes in patients with multiple myeloma

Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of 20 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) were assayed for clonality by Southern blot and cell surface marker analysis. Eight samples showed monoclonal origin of circulating lymphocytes by demonstrating rearrangements of the heavy chain immunoglobulin gene (IgH). In selected experiments, comparison of IgH rearrangements of bone marrow plasma cells and peripheral blood-derived mononuclear cells, highly enriched for B lymphocytes, proved to be identical. However, monoclonal circulating cells could not be detected in samples with rearranged IgH genes by surface marker phenotyping using one-color immunofluorescence analysis and a panel of monoclonal and polycl…

research product

GM-CSF in a Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial in Therapy of Adult Patients with De Novo Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Despite the fact that 60%–70% of patients with de novo acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) achieve a complete remission (CR) of the disease only about 20%–30% of the patients remain in long term remission and are probably cured [1,2]. These rather disappointing long-term results argue in favor of an even more intensive induction and post-remission therapy. This intention is, however, at time limited by therapy associated toxicity. Especially haematotoxicity seems to be the limiting factor in that patients with profound neutropenia are at high risk of developing fatal infectious complications [3]. In this context haematopoietic growth factors, such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating …

research product

Granulocyte–Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor in the Therapy of Adults with De Novo Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia: An Update of a Double-Blind Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

We investigated whether granulocytemacrophage colony-stimulating factor (GMCSF) given concomitantly with chemotherapy (CT) improves the outcome of adults with de novo acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) by increasing the efficacy of CT and reducing infections. CT included cytarabine (ara-C) daunorubicin, and etoposide (DAV) for induction and early consolidation therapy and one cycle with high-dose (patients aged ≤50 years) or intermediate-dose ara-C (patients aged >50 years) /daunorubicin for late consolidation therapy. Eighty patients were randomized after DAV 1 to receive either GM-CSF (Escherichia coli, 250 µg/m2 per day, s.c.) or placebo starting 48 h prior to DAV II and the subsequent co…

research product

Phase I study in melanoma patients of a vaccine with peptide-pulsed dendritic cells generated in vitro from CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that can be used for vaccination purposes, to induce a specific T-cell response in vivo against melanoma-associated antigens. We have shown that the sequential use of early-acting hematopoietic growth factors, stem cell factor, IL-3 and IL-6, followed by differentiation with IL-4 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor allows the in vitro generation of large numbers of immature DCs from CD34(+) peripheral blood progenitor cells. Maturation to interdigitating DCs could specifically be induced within 24 hr by addition of TNF-alpha. Here, we report on a phase I clinical vaccination trial in melanoma patients us…

research product

Monocyte Interleukin-1 Secretion Is Regulated by the Sequential Action of γ-Interferon and Interleukin-2 Involving Monocyte Surface Expression of Interleukin-2 Receptors

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a polypeptide synthesized as a high-mol.-wt. precursor and subsequently secreted after proteolytic cleavage to 17500-dalton active forms in murine [1] and human cells [2]. Recently, cDNAs for murine [3] and for two distinct human IL-1 species, IL-1α and IL- 1β, have been isolated, sequenced, and cloned [2, 4].

research product

Recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor induces secretion of autoinhibitory monokines by U-937 cells

Colony-stimulating factors are required for survival proliferation, differentiation and functional activation of granulocytes, macrophages and their precursor cells. In the present report, however, we demonstrate antiproliferative activity of recombinant human (rh) granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) on monoblast cell line U-937 and provide evidence for the involvement of tumor necrosis factor alpha TNF-alpha and interleukin 1 beta (IL 1 beta) in its growth inhibitory action. GM-CSF (but not granulocyte CSF, G-CSF or macrophage CSF, M-CSF) suppressed DNA synthesis and self renewal of U-937 cells. Similarly, medium conditioned by U-937 cells in response to GM-CSF (GM-CS…

research product

Polypeptides controlling hematopoietic blood cell development and activation

Colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) have entered the clinical arena. Several investigators have explored, in first clinical phase I studies, different routes of administration to define the optimum biological dose, maximum tolerated dose, toxicity, and pharmacokinetics of these reagents. It has been demonstrated that recombinant human (rh) granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) and granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) can be safely administered over a broad dose range to increase number of circulating granulocytes in man. More recently, GM-CSF and G-CSF have been involved in phase Ib/II studies to assess the granulopoietic responses of patients with granulocytopenia due to various underlying disease states i…

research product

Differential regulation of interleukin-6 expression in human fibroblasts by tumor necrosis factor-alpha and lymphotoxin.

The treatment of human diploid fibroblasts with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and with lymphotoxin (LT) is associated with induction of interleukin-6 (IL-6) transcripts with TNF-alpha being 10-fold more potent than LT. Here we report on the TNF-alpha/LT-induced signaling mechanisms responsible for the regulation of IL-6 gene expression in these cells. Run-on assays demonstrated that both TNF-alpha and LT increase IL-6 mRNA levels by transcriptional activation of this gene. Stability studies of IL-6 transcripts in fibroblasts showed that TNF-alpha delayed IL-6 mRNA decay but not LT. The induction of IL-6 transcripts by TNF-alpha and LT was not inhibited by the isoquinoline sulfonamide de…

research product

Hematopoietic responses in patients with advanced malignancy treated with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor.

The in vivo effect of yeast-derived recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rh GM-CSF) was investigated in 30 patients with advanced malignancy in a phase Ib trial. Patients were treated at four different dose levels (120 to 1,000 micrograms/m2/d) by either daily intravenous (IV) bolus injection or 24-hour continuous infusion. Administration of rh GM-CSF resulted in a broad spectrum of dose- and schedule-dependent hematopoietic effects. Sustained infusion of rh GM-CSF elicited a maximum 17-fold average peak increase of the total WBC count with mainly neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes accounting for this rise, and increases in bone marrow cellularity with a…

research product

Interleukin 1 stimulates T lymphocytes to produce granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor.

T lymphocytes are thought to cooperatively interact with monocytes to produce colony-stimulating factors (CSF). However, little is known about monocyte-mediated signals leading to CSF-secretion by T lymphocytes, although soluble monocyte products have been implicated. We have employed monoclonal antibody anti-T3B covalently coupled to CnBr-activated Sepharose 4B beads, to show that multimeric ligation of T cell antigen receptor leads to T cell receptiveness to interleukin 1 (IL-1), as indicated by T cell production of CSF, which induces growth of myeloid progenitor cells into neutrophil, eosinophil, and monocyte colonies. To investigate the molecular basis of these findings, total RNA was e…

research product

Gamma-Interferon Regulates Secretion of G-CSF in Human Monocytes on the Transcriptional Level

The production of colony stimulating factors (CSF) for granulocytes and monocytes is integrated into a network of communicating soluble messenger molecules resulting from T-cell/monocyte interactions. We assessed the capactiy of gamma-Interferon to modulate monocyte secretion of CSF by colony assays and Northern blot analysis to hybridize monocyte RNA with cDNA probes of different CSF-types. Whereas mRNA for GM-CSF was undetectable in untreated and gamma-IFN treated peripheral blood monocytes, the constitutive expression of mRNA for G-CSF and subsequent production of a CSF with biological activities similar to G-CSF could highly be enhanced by exposure of monocytes to gamma-IFN.

research product

Leukemic Colony-Forming Cells in Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia: Maturation Hierarchy and Growth Conditions

Despite their primitive morphological appearance, the majority of leukemic blasts in acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) are end-stage, nonproliferating cells. Only a small subset of AML blasts are capable of a sufficient number of divisions to form colonies in semisolid medium [1, 2]. It has been suggested that these leukemic colony-forming cells (L-CFC) may act in vivo as progenitor cells to maintain the rest of the leukemic cell population [3, 4]. L-CFC share several properties with normal myeloid progenitor cells, including self-renewal potential and high thymidine suicide index [2, 3]. As in the case of normal myeloid progenitor cells (NMPC), colony growth of L-CFC from most patients req…

research product

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha but not TNF-beta induces secretion of colony stimulating factor for macrophages (CSF-1) by human monocytes

Abstract Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha has been identified as a major inducer of colony stimulating factor (CSF)-secretion by human vascular endothelial cells and fibroblasts. In the present study we assessed the capacity of TNFs to induce release of CSF-1 from highly purified peripheral blood monocyte preparations. Whereas monocytes do not accumulate CSF-1 messenger (m)RNA constitutively and consequently do not produce CSF-1 protein, CSF-1 mRNA and protein secretion became detectable, when monocytes were cultured in the presence of TNF-alpha, that was synergistically enhanced by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). However, under identical experimental conditions TNF-beta failed to induce mon…

research product

Participation of the cytokines interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin 1-beta secreted by acute myelogenous leukemia blasts in autocrine and paracrine leukemia growth control.

Autonomous in vitro growth of myeloid leukemic colony-forming cells may in part result from autocrine production of colony-stimulating factors (CSF). Some acute myeloid leukemia (AML) samples, however, fail to synthesize CSF despite growing autonomously in agar, and are therefore believed to bypass CSF requirements. Cytokines such as IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, and IL-1, products of cells of the myeloid lineage, are known to be involved in growth control of myeloid progenitor cells. Since these molecules may also contribute to autocrine and paracrine growth regulation of myeloid leukemias, we screened a series of AML for cytokine production. In addition, possible roles of IL-6,…

research product

Production of macrophage-, granulocyte-, granulocyte-macrophage- and multi-colony-stimulating factor by peripheral blood cells

The specific cell sources and signals for induction of various colony-stimulating factors (CSF) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), purified T lymphocyte and monocyte (Mo) populations have been investigated. In the absence of exogenous activating stimuli, human PBMC, T cells and Mo failed to produce stable cytoplasmic mRNA for CSF for macrophages (M-CSF or CSF-1), for granulocytes (G-CSF), for granulocytes and macrophages (GM-CSF) and for multilineage CSF [multi-CSF, interleukin (IL) 3] and thus failed to release CSF proteins. However, after stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate and phytohemagglutinin, M-, G-, GM- and multi-CSF mRNA became detectable in PBMC, resulting in the…

research product

Effect of Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor on Neutropenia and Related Morbidity Induced by Myelotoxic Chemotherapy

Myelosuppression-related neutropenia is the major side effect of most anticancer chemotherapy. Despite considerable improvements in supportive care due to the advent of a variety of new antibiotic combinations, infection remains the main risk arising during the neutropenic period that follows intensive chemotherapy for cancer [1]. In addition, neutropenia is the major obstacle to dose escalation, frequency of cytoreductive treatment, and thus to improved cancer control. Regarding reduction of the period of neutropenia and increase of the maximum tolerated dose of effective anticancer agents, autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) has recently offered new promise. However, as many as …

research product

Interferon alfa-2c in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML): hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular-genetic response of patients with chronic phase CML previously resistant to therapy with interferon gamma.

Alpha- and gamma-interferons have been shown to actively suppress hematopoiesis in patients in the chronic phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia in vitro and in vivo. Since both interferons act through different receptors on their hematopoietic target cells, they are expected to be capable of independently inhibiting abnormal blood cell development in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. We have utilized recombinant human interferon alfa-2c to treate 11 patients with Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myelogenous leukemia in chronic phase, who were resistant to previous interferon gamma therapy. Ten of the patients were evaluable for hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular-genet…

research product

Effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor on neutropenia and related morbidity induced by myelotoxic chemotherapy.

Abstract purpose: A phase Ib/II clinical study was undertaken to assess the efficacy of recombinant human (rh) granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating (GM-CSF) factor in attenuating neutropenia and associated morbidity caused by high-dose anticancer chemotherapy administered in the presence or absence of autologous bone marrow support. patients and methods: Twenty-two patients with various solid tumors and lymphoid neoplasias were treated with a single daily subcutaneous dose of rh GM-CSF (250/μg/m 2 ) 48 hours after receiving a second cycle of highly myelotoxic chemotherapy for a period of 10 days. Within-subject comparisons on neutropenia-related clinical and laboratory variables were m…

research product

Lymphokine activated killer cells.

Various subpopulations of human leukocytes may be induced by lymphokines to exert cytotoxic activity. In man major histocompatibility complex non-restricted tumor cell lysis by interleukin-2 (IL-2) induced peripheral blood lymphocytes is attributed mainly to natural killer cells. These T cell receptor negative large granular lymphocytes are called lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells. In order to explore the potential of LAK cells in tumor therapy, several clinical studies have been conducted, using IL-2 alone or in combination with ex vivo IL-2-activated peripheral blood lymphocytes. Objective responses have reproducibly been achieved only in renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma …

research product

Hematologic effects of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in patients with malignancy.

Abstract The effect of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on hematologic parameters was evaluated in a phase I clinical study in 18 patients with advanced malignancy. G-CSF was administered once daily as a 30-minute infusion for 14 days; three patients each were treated at increasing dose levels of 1, 3, 10, 30, and 60 micrograms kg-1 day-1. A transient decrease in neutrophil and monocyte counts was observed immediately after the G-CSF infusion, followed by a dose-dependent increase of up to 15-fold. G-CSF-induced neutrophils exhibited an increased O2- radical production, and serum levels of enzymes related to granulocyte turnover, including lysozyme and elastas…

research product

Phase I trial of recombinant human tumour necrosis factor alpha in patients with advanced malignancy.

A phase I clinical trial was conducted with recombinant human tumour necrosis factor alpha (rhTNF-alpha) in 62 patients with advanced malignancy refractory to previous standard therapy. rhTNF-alpha was given as a 30 min infusion twice a day at 6 h intervals. A total of 10 different dose levels was escalated in cohorts of 6 patients ranging from 2.5 to 200 micrograms/m2 twice a day for 5 days every second week for a total of 8 weeks followed by a 4-week observation period. Major side-effects of TNF-alpha therapy, seen in almost all patients studied, were fever and chills. As dose-limiting side-effects hypotension and liver toxicity were recorded in 4 of 5 patients treated with 200 micrograms…

research product

Interleukin-4 induces secretion of CSF for granulocytes and CSF for macrophages by peripheral blood monocytes.

Abstract T cells are known to interact cooperatively with monocytes to produce Colony-Stimulating Factors (CSF), although T cell-mediated signals leading to CSF secretion by monocytes are not completely understood. We have made use of Northern blot hybridization and specific bioassays to study the effects of the T cell product interleukin-4 (IL-4) on monocyte CSF expression. The results suggest a previously unrecognized role of IL-4 as a CSF inducer since exposure of monocytes to IL-4 resulted in accumulation of transcripts for granulocyte-CSF (G-CSF) and macrophage-CSF (M-CSF). Consequently, IL-4-activated monocytes released factors in their culture supernatants biologically and antigenica…

research product