Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor treatment in AIDS patients

Frequent complications of human immunodeficiency virus infection are hematopoietic failure and poor tolerance of myelosuppressive drugs. Reasons for neutropenia resulting from hematopoietic failure are infection of the bone marrow and hematotoxicity of treatment with zidovudine, ganciclovir, sulfonamides, and interferons. Moreover, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, transforming growth factor-beta and interferon-gamma have been shown to suppress proliferation of bone marrow cells. Both granulocyte (G-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) increase neutrophil counts and ameliorate phagocytic and bactericidic function of neutrophils. We report eight cases of AIDS patients with serious infections and neutropenia (< 750 cells/microliters), who were treated concomitantly with recombinant human G-CSF (3-4 micrograms subcutaneously per kilogram body weight daily). G-CSF treatment was well tolerated in all patients and showed no side effects or disturbances of other lineages than neutrophils. Life-threatening bacterial infections were treated successfully by stimulating the neutrophil immune system. This therapy shortened the duration of subsequent treatment with antibiotics. Since human immunodeficiency virus infects CD4-positive monocytes and macrophages, which are stimulated by GM-CSF, G-CSF seems to be the cytokine of choice, if stimulation of the neutrophil lineage is warranted.