Synergistic suppression: anomalous inhibition of the proliferation of factor-dependent hemopoietic cells by combination of two colony-stimulating factors.

Cells of the continuous murine hemopoietic cell line FDC-P1 expressing macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) receptors following retroviral insertion of murine c-fms cDNA proliferated clonally when stimulated by granulocyte/macrophage (GM)-CSF, multipotential CSF, or M-CSF. However, M-CSF combined with either GM-CSF or multi-CSF, even at low CSF concentrations, strongly inhibited colony formation, with loss of clonogenicity in affected cells accompanied by increased macrophage differentiation. Stimulation by these CSF combinations did not induce short-term changes in CSF receptor expression or internalization. FDC-P1 cells expressing another inserted tyrosine kinase receptor, basic fibroblast growth factor receptor, did not exhibit suppression when GM-CSF was combined with fibroblast growth factor. This phenomenon of synergistic suppression may have relevance for the future clinical use of combinations of CSFs, because a potentially similar suppression is also observable with some normal macrophage progenitor cells.