Autocrine transforming growth factor beta 1 blocks colony formation and progenitor cell generation by hemopoietic stem cells stimulated with steel factor.

The ability of Steel Factor (SF) to stimulate colony formation and progenitor cell generation by hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vitro in the absence of interleukin 3 (IL-3) was investigated. IL-3 was required for HSC proliferation, and no or restricted proliferation occurred in the presence of SF, IL-6, IL-11, or IL-12 as single factors or in combination. Neutralizing concentrations of anti-transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 antibodies enhanced progenitor cell generation 2-3-fold in the presence of IL-3, but 75 to over 300-fold when cultures contained at least SF in the absence of IL-3. Exogenous TGF-beta 1 fully abrogated the antibody effects. In the presence of antibodies to TGF-beta 1, SF alone stimulated the delayed formation of small blast cell colonies and SF synergized with IL-6, IL-11, or IL-12 to greatly hasten colony formation, enhance colony number and size, and increase colony forming unit-culture (CFU-C) output from suspension cultures of enriched HSC populations. Secondary CFU-C colonies were significantly larger when IL-3 was absent during the suspension culture phase. Single cell and limiting dilution analysis using a homogenous colony forming unit-spleen (CFU-S) day-12 population and an 800-fold enriched long-term repopulating HSC fraction, respectively, indicated that TGF-beta 1 was an autocrine product of these HSC subsets. Addition of nucleosides, insulin, extra glucose, or serum could not replace the effects of the anti-TGF-beta 1 antibody. While these data offer one possible explanation for reports on the inability of SF to stimulate HSC proliferation, they present the basis for a novel model of the regulation of HSC activation wherein: 1) close-range interactions of HSCs with mesenchymal stromal cells do not exclusively determine maintenance of HSC quiescence; 2) competence acquisition by dormant HSCs may involve the down-regulation or inactivation of autocrine TGF-beta 1; and 3) SF may act as a primary growth factor rather than exclusively as a synergistic cytokine.