Cells of T-lymphocyte origin produce an erythropoietin-like growth factor

Erythropoietin-like activity (EpLA) is one of several hematopoietic growth factors found in spleen cell-conditioned medium. Conditioned media obtained from both dissociated tissues and cloned cell lines were examined in order to define the cellular source of EpLA. The growth factor was only found in supernatants of tissues that contained T-lymphocytes. An examination of media conditioned by cloned cell lines representative of the major cell types in spleen (T- and B-lymphocytes, macrophages) confirmed the association between T cells and EpLA production. Limiting dilution analyses established that normal T-lymphocyte clones produced EpLA, but this property was not correlated with a specific functional T-cell subset. On stimulation with PMA, the T-cell lymphoma cell line, EL-4, proved to be the most potent producer of EpLA found to date.