Macromolecules stimulating human granulocytic colony-forming cells, precursors of these cells, and primitive erythroid progenitors: some apparent nonidentities.

The relationship between molecules having granulocyte colony-stimulating activity (G-CSA), erythroid burst-promoting activity (E-BPA), and activity promoting increase in the number of granulocytic progenitors in liquid culture (delta GPA) was explored in conditioned medium from human leukocytes (HLCM) and human placenta (HPCM). As tested on human hemopoietic progenitors in culture, G-CSA eluted from Sephadex G100 as a single peak with apparent molecular weight of 25,000, separating partially from E-BPA and delta GPA, which both had an apparent molecular weight of 45,000. All three activities eluted together from hydroxyapatite at low molarity phosphate. Their charge properties were also similar and all three electrofocused in flat gel beds in the pH range near 5.4. On both hydroxyapatite and isoelectric focusing, delta GPA sometimes separated partially from the other two activities but not consistently. The gel filtration result shows that in conditioned medium of human origin, molecules having G-CSA are not the same as those having delta GPA, suggesting a dual factor requirement in the granulocytic lineage reminiscent of that in the erythroid pathway. The results suggesting that delta GPA might differ from E-BPA, on the other hand, were not consistent enough to establish their nonidentity. Single micromanipulated cells proved capable of forming erythroid or granulocytic colonies in the presence of either crude or partially purified activity. The results establish that human colony-forming cells are direct primary targets of growth factors in HLCM and HPCM.