Effects of rGM-CSF on leukemia cell proliferation and on the incorporation of cytosine arabinoside into DNA.

In vitro studies of the effects of recombinant granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (rGM-CSF) on freshly obtained human leukemia cells were conducted to determine if there is a relationship between the effects of this growth factor on the proliferative characteristics of leukemia cells and on their incorporation of cytosine arabinoside (araC) into DNA. While rGM-CSF was found to be able to stimulate both leukemia cell proliferation and araC incorporation, for individual leukemia specimens there was no consistent relationship among these effects. In some specimens proliferation was stimulated without an increase in araC incorporation. The reverse was also observed. These studies demonstrate the difficulty in identifying assays capable of predicting the clinical effects of growth factors on leukemia cells in patients since the effect in vitro vary with the assay.