Poly(A)-poly(U) induces circulating colony-stimulating activity resulting from interactions between endogeneous interleukin 6 and serum components.

The immunostimulant poly(A)-poly(U) induces a rapid enhancement of circulating colony-stimulating activity (CSA) in normal mice, culminating 2 h after i.v. injection. A dose of 200 micrograms per mouse is sufficient for a maximal effect. The colonies formed in response to sera from poly(A)-poly(U)-injected mice are mainly granulocytic with few macrophages. These sera are devoid of detectable interleukin 3 (IL-3) or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), but contain large amounts of interleukin 6 (IL-6) that are perfectly correlated with circulating CSA levels. Although, in our hands, IL-6 alone induces no colony formation in the standard methylcellulose colony assay, it is nevertheless requisite for this biological activity because 1) monoclonal antibodies against IL-6 strongly diminish colony formation in response to sera from poly(A)-poly(U)-injected mice, and 2) recombinant (r)IL-6 induces colonies when tested in combination with low amounts of normal murine serum. At the concentrations used (0.3%-2.5%), the latter has no or a very slight effect alone. Low amounts of hematopoietic growth factors, that is, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), GM-CSF, or IL-3 that are almost ineffective in the absence of IL-6 can replace normal serum. Taken together, these data suggest that circulating IL-6, induced by i.v. injection of poly(A)-poly(U), promotes colony formation by interacting with serum components that might be identical with hematopoietic growth factors present in normal serum at subliminal concentrations. Finally, the involvement of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in this phenomenon has been ruled out by the use of the low responder strain of mice (C3H/HeJ) that leads to similar results.