C/EBPbeta is required for 'emergency' granulopoiesis.

During 'emergency' situations such as infections, host defense requires rapid mobilization of bone marrow granulocyte progenitors. 'Steady-state' granulopoiesis is absolutely dependent on the C/EBPalpha transcription factor, but the transcriptional mechanisms underlying emergency granulopoiesis remain unclear. Here we show that large numbers of granulocytes were generated from C/EBPalpha-deficient progenitors after cytokine stimulation in vivo. Cytokine treatment or fungal infection induced upregulation of C/EBPbeta but not C/EBPalpha or C/EBPepsilon transcripts in granulocyte progenitors, and C/EBPbeta-deficient progenitors showed decreased emergency-induced granulopoiesis in vitro and in vivo. C/EBPbeta inhibited proliferation less severely than did C/EBPalpha. These data suggest a critical function for C/EBPbeta in emergency granulopoiesis, which demands both differentiation and proliferation of granulocyte precursors.