T-cell growth factor P40 promotes the proliferation of myeloid cell lines and enhances erythroid burst formation by normal murine bone marrow cells in vitro.

T-cell growth factor P40 was examined for possible effects on murine interleukin-3 (IL-3)-dependent myeloid cell lines and freshly isolated murine bone marrow cells. The results showed that P40 stimulated the proliferation of some IL-3-dependent myeloid cell lines of both early myeloid and mast cell phenotype and synergized with IL-3. P40 did not promote proliferation of fresh bone marrow cells, bone marrow enriched for early myeloid cells by 5-fluorouracil treatment, or bone marrow derived mast cells as assessed in 3H-TdR incorporation assays. P40 did not influence the growth of murine colony-forming unit granulocyte-macrophage in agar cultures, either alone or in the presence of optimal or sub-optimal concentrations of CSF-1, GM-colony-stimulating factor, or IL-3. P40 did potentiate burst-forming unit-erythroid (BFU-E) formation in the presence of erythropoietin; however, this was dependent on the cell plating density, suggesting an indirect stimulation of BFU-E by P40. The indirect nature of P40 action on BFU-E was further demonstrated in cell separation experiments and indicated that the effect was mediated by T cells. These data expand the repertoire of cells that P40 influences.