The role of G-CSF in adaptive immunity.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is a pleiotropic cytokine playing a major role as regulator of hematopoiesis and innate immune responses. There is growing evidence that G-CSF also exerts profound immunoregulatory effects in adaptive immunity. G-CSF mediates anti-inflammatory reactions accompanied by TH2 cell differentiation and promotes tolerogeneic cell populations at both poles of APC/T cell interaction. These recent findings have highlighted the novel impact of G-CSF in transplantation tolerance and autoimmunity. G-CSF represents a powerful and promising cytokine to promote T cell tolerance in pathological conditions associated with a TH1/TH2 imbalance.