Effect of macrophage colony stimulating factor overexpression on oxidative injury/resistance of RAW264.7 cells

Oxidative injury to monocytes/macrophages is considered one of the key factors in atherogenesis. Macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) also plays an important role in the stages of atherosclerosis. Some researchers showed that M-CSF accelerated pathological changes in the early stages of atherosclerosis. However, other reports suggested that exogenous M-CSF could prevent the progress of atherosclerosis. To further investigate the role of M-CSF in atherogenesis and to elucidate the effect of M-CSF on the oxidative injury to monocytes/macrophages, RAW264.7 cell lines overexpressing M-CSF were established by applying the lipofectin transfection method. The oxidative injurious effect of tert-butylhydroperoxide on the established cell lines was investigated. Two M-CSF-transfected RAW264.7 cell lines secreted large amounts of M-CSF. Compared with the non-transfected RAW264.7 cells, M-CSF-overexpressing RAW264.7 cells were more vulnerable to oxidative injury. We conclude that M-CSF could aggravate the oxidative injury due to macrophages in some situations.