Human interleukin 3: effects on normal and leukemic cells.

The effects of recombinant human interleukin 3 (IL3) on normal bone marrow cells and human leukemic cells were studied. In clonal assays, IL3 supported the growth of all colony types including megakaryocytes. Erythroid colonies were formed in the presence of IL3 and erythropoietin, but not in the absence of erythropoietin. Replating experiments using blast cell colonies derived from a cell population enriched for progenitor cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting with the monoclonal antibody 3C5, showed that IL3 supported the continued replating of colonies. The clonal proliferation of human bone marrow cells in response to IL3 was inhibited by tumor necrosis factor and by lymphotoxin, but not by interferon-gamma. In suspension cultures, IL3 supported the proliferation of mast cells. Human IL3 had no effect on the growth responses, morphology, cytochemistry, or clonogenicity of the human leukemic cell lines HL60, U-937, KG1a, and HEL. Transcripts for IL3 mRNA were not detectable in these cells, nor in the K562 cell line, implying that autocrine secretion of IL3 was not the mechanism by which these leukemias were maintained. Although cells derived from the bone marrow or peripheral blood of twenty patients with myeloproliferative disorders, myelodysplastic syndromes or acute myeloid leukemia frequently showed proliferative responses to IL3, mRNA transcripts for IL3 were not detected in these cells.