[Colony stimulating factor]

Clinical usefulness of G-CSF, GM-CSF and M-CSF was summarized. These CSFs had been demonstrated to accelerate the recovery from neutropenia after anti-cancer chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. CSFs were also effective in some patients with aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and idiopathic neutropenia among children. An increase of neutrophils was observed in these patients responding to CSFs. Few patients with aplastic anemia and MDS, however, responded to G-CSF with an increase of reticulocytes and thrombocytes in addition to neutrophils. Combination of G-CSF with anti-leukemic agents for the treatment of refractory and relapsed acute non-lymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) or as the conditioning for bone marrow transplantation to refractory ANLL patients was found to be quite effective. Possible usage of GM-CSF and M-CSF for cancer treatment by stimulating anti-cancer functions of monocytes-macrophages was also discussed. Furthermore, GM-CSF and M-CSF were demonstrated to decrease serum cholesterol level in rabbits as well as in patients. Possible mechanism of this cholesterol-lowering effect was also discussed.