Recombinant human GM-CSF induces leukocytosis and activates peripheral blood polymorphonuclear neutrophils in nonhuman primates

The in vivo efficacy of glycosylated and nonglycosylated recombinant human granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rh GM-CSF) expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells and Escherichia coli respectively was studied in rhesus monkeys following a daily subcutaneous (SC; three times) or intravenous (IV; over six hours) dose for seven consecutive days. The monkeys responded to the rh GM-CSF with a prompt (within 24 hours) rise in circulating white blood cells (WBCs). Thereafter the total cell counts increased steadily in a dose- dependent manner with repeated dosing to numbers six times over the pretreatment levels. Overall, granulocyte counts increased fivefold, lymphocytes twofold to fourfold, and monocytes threefold to fourfold. Platelets and erythrocytes were unaffected. Within 1 week after the end of treatment the leukocytosis had disappeared. Of the two routes of treatment, SC (three times daily)-administered rh GM-CSF was more effective than the same dose given by a six-hour IV infusion. In addition to inducing leukocytosis, parenterally administered rh GM-CSF primed mature circulating granulocytes for enhanced oxidative metabolism and killing of an E coli strain. These results show that exogenously administered glycosylated or nonglycosylated rh GM-CSF is both an effective stimulator of leukocytosis and a potent activator of the phagocytic function of mature granulocytes in monkeys.