Hepatocyte growth factor is constitutively produced by human bone marrow stromal cells and indirectly promotes hematopoiesis.

Bone marrow (BM) stromal cells are required for normal hematopoiesis. A number of soluble factors secreted by these cells that mediate hematopoiesis have been characterized. However, the mechanism of hematopoiesis cannot be explained solely by these known factors, and the existence of other, still unknown stromal factors has been postulated. We showed that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is one such cytokine produced by human BM stromal cells. BM stromal cells were shown to constitutively produce HGF and also to express the c-MET/HGF receptor. The production of HGF was enhanced by addition of heparin and phorbol ester. Dexamethasone and tumor growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) inhibited the production of HGF. Interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and N6,2'-o-dibutyryl-adenosine-3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (dbc-AMP) showed no obvious influence on HGF production. Western blot analysis of HGF derived from BM stromal cells showed two bands at 85 and 28 kD corresponding to native and variant HGF, respectively. Addition of recombinant HGF significantly promoted the formation of burst-forming unit-erythroid (BFU-E) and colony-forming unit-granulocyte erythroid macrophage (CFU-GEM) by BM mononuclear cells in the presence of erythropoietin and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), but the formation of CFU-GM was not modified. However, HGF had no effects on colony formation by purified CD34+ cells. Within BM mononuclear cells, c-MET was expressed on a proportion of cells (CD34-, CD33+, CD13+, CD14+, and CD15+), but was not found on CD34+ cells. We conclude that HGF is constitutively produced by BM stromal cells and that it enhances hematopoiesis. In addition, expression of c-MET on the stromal cells suggests the presence of an autocrine mechanism, operating through HGF, among stromal cells.