Tumor-promoting phorbol esters induce macrophage differentiation from bone marrow precursors.

The tumor-promoting phorbol diester, 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), induces in liquid cultures of rat and mouse bone marrow cells a sequence of events strikingly similar to those initiated by colony-stimulating activity known to regulate growth. Changes include stimulation of DNA synthesis and induction of cell proliferation, enhancement of adherence to the substratum, increase in lysozyme secretion, the expression of plasma membrane receptors for the Fc portion of IgG and the capability of manifesting lymphokine-induced, immunologically nonspecific long-term cytotoxicity. These findings indicate that TPA selectively stimulates precursors of the mononuclear phagocyte lineage to proliferate and to differentiate into macrophages, thus mimicking the effects of macrophage colony-stimulating activity.