Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor treatment of mice modulates differently the sensitivity of blood and bone marrow hematopoietic progenitors to retroviral vector infection.

Abstract

The effect of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration to mice on the retroviral-mediated transfer of the selectable marker gene neo to hematopoietic cells was studied. After G-CSF treatment, blood mononuclear cells and bone marrow cells were infected with the retrovirus, and the efficiency of gene transfer into myeloid progenitors was increased in peripheral blood and decreased in bone marrow cells. Bone marrow four to six months after transplantation from G-CSF treated mice revealed the presence of the transferred neo gene in 4 out of 104 mice, which is an eightfold lower proportion than in the control group. These data suggest that G-CSF in vivo treatment decreases bone marrow sensitivity and increases the sensitivity of peripheral blood cells to retroviral infection.