Physiology of granulocyte and macrophage colony-stimulating factors in host defense.

The colony-stimulating factors (CSF) are a family of glycoprotein hormones that regulate the proliferation and maturation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. In addition to their effects on hematopoiesis, CSFs modulate the function of fully mature cells and, therefore, play an important role in regulating inflammatory responses vital to host defense. Here we review recent information that describes the biological activity of the CSFs on mature cell function, including chemotaxis, adherence, motility, phagocytosis, oxidative metabolism, and cytotoxicity.