A novel immunosuppressant 15-deoxyspergualin and thrombopoiesis.

When 15-deoxyspergualin (DSG) was administered into [BALB/c-->C3H/He] bone marrow (BM) chimeras from day 14 to day 25, increased platelet counts were observed from day 25 to day 33. Twofold increase of platelet counts was observed in DSG-treated BM chimeras compared with phosphate buffered saline (PBS)-treated BM chimeras. By using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), several cytokine mRNA expressions were analyzed in order to clarify which cytokines are involved in thrombopoiesis. So far, interleukin-6 (IL-6), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), stem cell factor (SCF), and IL-11 have been reported to have potent thrombopoietic activity in vivo. Although some other cytokines such as IL-3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) possess the capacity of thrombopoiesis, megakaryocytopoiesis is more marked in these cytokines. IL-6 mRNA expression was increased in spleen cells from DSG-treated BM chimeras from day 25 to day 32 and in bone marrow cells from day 19 to day 28. LIF mRNA expression was not significantly increased compared with PBS control. Although SCF mRNA expression was increased, the kinetics of increased SCF mRNA expression did not fit the kinetics of increased platelet counts. Increased mRNA expression in other hematopoietic cytokines, such as IL-3, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and GM-CSF were also observed, thus suggesting that these cytokines may synergistically support thrombopoiesis in concert with IL-6. These results suggest that IL-6 and other hematopoietic cytokines might induce increased platelet counts, although the involvement of thrombopoietin (TPO) and IL-11 should be analyzed in the future.