Macrophage colony-stimulating factor enhances rituximab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity by monocytes.

Recent studies suggest that monocytes are the dominant effectors by which rituximab induces cell death in B-cell lymphoma. Because macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) can enhance the cytotoxicity of monocytes, the authors examined whether this growth factor can enhance their ability to kill lymphoma cells in vitro. Monocytes derived from a healthy volunteer were cultured for 48 h in the presence or absence of M-CSF. Monocytes stimul ated with M-CSF were significantly more cytotoxic to Daudi B-cell lymphomas than unstimulated monocytes. Flow cytometry revealed that M-CSF increased monocyte expression of Fcgamma receptors III and I by 1.6- and 1.5-fold, whereas the expression of Fcgamma receptor II remained unchanged. These results suggest that pretreatment with M-CSF can improve the therapeutic efficacy of rituximab against intractable CD20(+) lymphoma.