Induction of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating activity in mouse skin by inflammatory agents and tumor promoters.

The granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating activity (GM-CSA) was assayed in acetic acid extracts of skin from mice which were topically treated with inflammatory and tumor-promoting diterpene esters. Extremely large increases in GM-CSA were found in skin treated with the strongly tumor-promoting 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and the weakly promoting mezerein, while only a very slight increase was found with the non-promoting 4-O-methyl-TPA (4-OMe-TPA). Untreated areas of skin had very little GM-CSA. In the treated skins, the elevated GM-CSA was noted within a few hours and lasted for greater than 24 h after treatment. Although the levels of GM-CSA induced in the skin correspond to the degree of inflammation elicited by the respective treatments, the leukocytes in the acute inflammatory infiltrate did not appear to be responsible for the increased GM-CSA. Both epidermis and dermis had increased GM-CSA following TPA treatment of skin. Treatment of fibroblast and epithelial continuous cell lines with diterpene esters resulted in a similar pattern of GM-CSA induction in their supernatant media as that noted in the skin extracts. A large majority of the colonies stimulated by the diterpene-ester induced GM-CSA were composed of only macrophages. The results demonstrate that the topical administration of an inflammatory diterpene ester results in a rapid, marked yet local GM-CSA induction in the skin of treated mice. This indirect action in which diterpene esters induce in certain cells a growth regulatory factor for other types of cells may be an important element in carcinogenesis.