Colony-stimulating factors.

The colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) are hematopoietic growth factors (HGFs) involved in regulating the formation of nonlymphoid blood cells. A brief review of the different types of CSFs and their biological properties is presented. The current nomenclature of CSFs and other HGFs is confused by the use of terms and abbreviations based on particular effects on target cells. However, a given cell is frequently recognized by more than one HGF/CSF, and a given HGF/CSF may recognize different types of target cells, including in some cases nonhematopoietic cells. A number-based nomenclature is universally used for the interleukins. Since the macrophage CSF (M-CSF) and the granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) have been designated previously as CSF-1 and CSF-2, respectively, the author proposes the designation of the granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) as CSF-3.