In Vitro Inhibitory Effect of Interferon-α and Interferon-γ on Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony Forming Units (CFU-GM) in CML and Healthy Donor. : Application of In Vitro Sensitivity Test for CML

The inhibitory effect of human interferon-alpha and interferon-gamma on the colony formation of CFU-GM was studied using peripheral blood and bone marrow cells in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and healthy donors. Both types of interferon inhibited colony growth of CFU-GM in CML and health donors. Interferon-alpha suppressed CFU-GM in some patients with CML more strongly than that in healthy donors. Whereas interferon-gamma suppressed CFU-GM in healthy donors more strongly than that in patients with CML. The CFU-GM in peripheral blood mononuclear cells with CML had significantly lower sensitivity to interferon-gamma than that in bone marrow mononuclear cells with CML. These findings indicate that the inhibitory effect of interferon, at least in part, is mediated by hematopoietic accessory cells in blood and bone marrow. From this study, it was suggested that interferon-alpha is a more active therapeutic agent than interferon-gamma for patients with CML. There were some co-relationship between the clinical effect of interferon-alpha and the sensitivity of CFU-GM in patients with CML. In conclusion, the sensitivity test of CFU-GM is beneficial to screening of therapeutic agents in CML