Efficacy of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in neutropenic children with malignancies.

The difference between the effects of administration of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) and recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) was studied in 39 children with neutropenia secondary to chemotherapy (absolute neutrophil count (ANC) less than 1,500/microliters. The children were divided into two groups. The first group (G-CSF) included 25 children (12 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL]-non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL] and 13 with solid tumors) and the second group (GM-CSF) included 14 children (5 with ALL-NHL and 9 with solid tumors). All 39 children received of either G-CSF or GM-CSF (5 micrograms/kg/day) subcutaneously at the end of each chemotherapy course for a maximum duration of 14 days. The effect of G-CSF and GM-CSF on the ANC, the antibiotic therapy administration, and the length of hospital stay were studied for both groups at two cycles of chemotherapy. During both cycles a faster rise of ANC was observed in the children of the first group (G-CSF) compared with those of the second group (GM-CSF), but there was no difference in either the incidence of antibiotic therapy administration between the two groups (26% vs 25%) or the length of hospitalization. Both growth factors were well tolerated by all children studied with minimal side effects observed (including bone pain with G-CSF in 2 of 25 children and pruritus with GM-CSF in 1 of 14). We conclude that G-CSF reduces the duration of neutropenia more than does GM-CSF, but the incidence of severe infection and the duration of hospitalization do not differ between children receiving either G-CSF or GM-CSF.