Interferon-gamma enhances growth factor-dependent proliferation of clonogenic cells in acute myeloblastic leukemia

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) has been reported to antagonize the stimulatory effect of various conditioned media on the growth of normal hematopoietic progenitor cells and clonogenic blasts from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML). In the present study, using purified recombinant cytokines and homogenous cell populations, we provide evidence for a synergistic or additive effect of IFN-gamma with recombinant human (rhu) hematopoietic growth factors in the stimulation of clonogenic blasts from most AML patients examined. Under conditions of limiting cell concentration, rhuIFN-gamma alone showed little effect on blast proliferation, whereas in conjunction with recombinant human interleukin-3 (rhuIL-3), IFN- gamma significantly enhanced colony formation in 13 of 15 AML cases. Maximal stimulation was obtained at low concentrations of IFN-gamma (2 to 20 pmol/L) in four cases and at higher concentrations (700 to 7,000 pmol/L) in the remainder. IFN-gamma also synergized with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhuGM-CSF) in 9 of 13 cases. Within 1 hour of exposure, IFN-gamma induced a twofold to fourfold accumulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha)- specific transcripts in AML blasts and several AML cell lines that include HL-60 and OCI-AML 1. Further, the synergy between IFN-gamma and IL-3 on AML blasts was partially or completely abrogated by a TNF alpha neutralizing antibody, suggesting that growth enhancement by IFN-gamma may be mediated through TNF alpha production in AML blast culture. Exposure of normal precursors (burst-forming unit-erythroid [BFU-E] and colony-forming unit granulocyte-macrophage [CFU-GM]) to IFN-gamma also resulted in significant growth enhancement, suggesting that the proliferative response elicited by IFN-gamma was not limited to AML blasts. Finally, in M07-E, an IL-3-dependent human “megakaryoblastic” cell line, IFN-gamma also significantly enhanced IL-3-supported colony formation, much in the same way as in primary AML blasts. In contrast, IFN-gamma inhibited growth of all CSF-independent leukemic cell lines tested. This inhibition was partially alleviated by anti-TNF alpha antibody. In summary, our data indicate that IFN-gamma can enhance or antagonize cell proliferation, depending on the cell type. Further, TNF alpha appears to mediate the biologic effect of IFN-gamma either in growth stimulation or growth inhibition.