Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor augmentation of T-cell receptor-dependent and T-cell receptor-independent thymocyte proliferation.

The effects of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are not confined to cells of the myeloid lineage. GM-CSF has been shown to have effects on mature T cells and both mature and immature T-cell lines. We therefore examined the GM-CSF responsiveness of murine thymocytes to investigate whether GM-CSF also affected normal immature T lymphocytes. The studies presented here indicate that GM-CSF augments accessory cell (AC)-dependent T-cell receptor (TCR)-mediated proliferation of unseparated thymocyte populations. To identify the GM-CSF responsive cell type, thymic AC and T cells were examined for GM-CSF responsiveness. We found that GM-CSF augmentation of TCR-induced thymocyte proliferation appears to be mediated via augmentation of AC function, and not via direct effects on mature single-positive (SP) thymocytes. Enriched double-negative (DN) thymocytes were also tested for GM-CSF responsiveness. GM-CSF induced the proliferation of adult and fetal DN thymocytes in an AC-independent and TCR-independent single-cell assay. Thus, in contrast to the SP thymocytes, a DN thymocyte population was directly responsive to GM-CSF. GM-CSF therefore may play a direct role in the expansion of DN thymocytes and an indirect role in the expansion of SP thymocytes.