Macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) in the cerebrospinal fluid

In a series of 145 cases with neurological diseases, macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) was detected in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with brain tumors, bacterial meningitis, and less frequently, AIDS-dementia complex. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) was found only in patients with bacterial meningitis; granulocyte-macrophage (GM)-CSF was never detected. These findings suggest that M-CSF may play an important intrathecal immunoregulatory role in neoplastic and infectious diseases of the central nervous system.