Human myelomonocytic cell line THP-1 produces a novel growth-promoting factor with a wide target cell spectrum

Conditioned medium from a human myelomonocytic cell line THP-1 promoted the growth of a wide variety of cell types, i.e., human and mouse myeloid cells (HL-60, U937, K562, and M1), mouse T-cells (EL-4), human B cells (Daudi and Raji), mouse mastocytoma cells (IC-2), human melanoma cells (A375-C6), mouse transformed fibroblast cells (L929), human lung fibroblast cells (TIG-1), and mouse bone marrow fibroblast/stromal-like cells. The growth-promoting activity was acid-labile. The activity was resistant to 50 degrees C for 5 min but completely lost in 5 min at 70 degrees C. The activity was resistant to treatment with trypsin but sensitive to chymotrypsin alpha, Pronase E, and proteinase K, indicating the proteinous nature of this activity. The activity was lost by dithiothreitol and 2-mercaptoethanol. Molecular weight (M(r) 50,000-70,000) was estimated by gel filtration-high performance liquid chromatography. After the sequential anion exchange, hydrophobic, and hydroxylapatite high performance liquid chromatography, the partially purified factor exhibited the same target cell spectrum as the conditioned medium.