Erschienen in:
24.06.2022 | Editorial
Current state and future opportunities in granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)
verfasst von:
Hartmut Link
Erschienen in:
Supportive Care in Cancer
|
Ausgabe 9/2022
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Excerpt
Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a protein that stimulates the growth of new blood cells, was isolated from human cells by Malcolm Moore and Karl Welte in 1984 [
1]. It formed the basis for filgrastim, one of the most important drugs in cancer therapy [
2]. In the hierarchical development of hematopoiesis, G-CSF predominantly stimulates the myeloid cell series from committed progenitor cells to mature neutrophil granulocytes. There are several important effects of G-CSF: maintaining the viability of progenitor cells and their mature progeny, blocking apoptosis, stimulating cell division, determining lineage affiliation (granulocytes or macrophage monocytes), influencing the maturation process, and stimulating phagocytosis activity [
3]. Natural G-CSF is O-glycosylated with a molecular weight of 19,000 Da. Derived from the amino acid sequence, molecular cloning of the cDNA and expression in
Escherichia coli was successful [
4]. G-CSF acts through a homodimeric G-CSF receptor (GCSFR) expressed on myeloid cells from myeloblasts to mature neutrophils. It transduces the signals that trigger the effects described [
5]. The GCSFR occurs at a relatively low density of 700–1500 per cell on the cell surface and has a high affinity for G-CSF. A low occupancy at receptors is sufficient to obtain the maximal biological response. …