Disease states induced by hemopoietic growth factor excess: their implications in medicine

Sustained excess levels of hemopoietic regulators can induce a variety of disease states in mice in addition to the anticipated hyperplasia of the responding hemopoietic lineages. In all the models examined so far, there is a complicating problem that at least some responding cells are also producing the excess regulator concerned. The development of the various disease states may therefore not necessarily be the simple consequence of overstimulation by excess regulator levels. The various disease states develop rapidly in a high proportion of animals and should serve as useful models for a variety of disease states in man.