Effects of interleukin-11 on the hematopoietic action of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor

Interleukin-11 (IL-11, CAS 145941-26-0) is a cytokine that ameliorates thrombocytopenia induced by chemotherapy. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is frequently used clinically as an adjuvant therapy to ameliorate neutropenia. In this study, it has been investigated whether IL-11 influences the hematopoietic action of G-CSF in vitro. IL-11 alone did not stimulate CFU-Meg colony formation in the absence of interleukin-3 (IL-3), but did in the presence of IL-3. However, IL-11 alone stimulated the formation of CFU-E, BFU-E and CFU-GM colonies, which were further enhanced by IL-3. G-CSF alone stimulated in a concentration dependent manner colony formation of CFU-GM and CFU-E, but not BFU-E or CFU-Meg. The addition of IL-11 enhanced the stimulatory effect of G-CSF on CFU-GM colony formation, and enabled G-CSF to stimulate colony formation of BFU-E, but not CFU-E. The addition of IL-3 further enhanced the stimulatory effect of G-CSF on CFU-E, BFU-E, and CFU-GM colony formation. However, G-CSF was unable to stimulate CFU-Meg colony formation for any of the cytokine combinations tested. These studies demonstrate that IL-11 has significant stimulatory effects on G-CSF-induced CFU-GM colony formation, suggesting that the therapeutic combination of the two growth factors could be beneficial for the treatment of myelosuppression induced by chemotherapy.