The Florey Lecture, 1991. The colony-stimulating factors: discovery to clinical use

Abstract

The four colony-stimulating factors, GM-CSF, G-CSF, M-CSF and Multi-CSF, are specific glycoproteins with a likely common ancestral origin which interact to regulate the production, maturation and function of granulocytes and monocyte-macrophages. Each has been purified and produced in active recombinant form. Animal studies have shown the ability of injected CSF to increase the production and functional activity of granulocytes and macrophages in vivo and to enhance resistance to infections. These studies have led to the current extensive clinical use of CSFs to promote the formation and function of granulocytes and macrophages in a wide variety of disease situations in which there is an associated risk of serious infections. Although our knowledge of the control of haemopoiesis remains incomplete, the approaches used to develop the CSFs can be used to extend this knowledge, with the promise of the introduction into clinical medicine of additional effective therapeutic agents.