The therapeutic effect of human recombinant macrophage colony stimulating factor (CSF-1) in experimental murine metastatic melanoma.

This paper investigates the effect of recombinant human macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1) on the interaction between mononuclear phagocytes and the metastatic murine melanoma, B16/B16. CSF-1 had no effect on the ability of primary or bone marrow-derived macrophages to kill B16 cells in vitro, nor on their activation for cytotoxicity by gamma interferon plus LPS. However, when administered in vivo, CSF-1 increased the number of monocytes and peritoneal cells in tumor-bearing animals, and led to a significant reduction in the appearance of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary metastatic lesions derived from primary B16 tumors. The results suggest a therapeutic potential for CSF-1 in the treatment of malignancy.