. The potential role of recombinant hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors in preventing infections in the immunocompromised host . Can J Infect Dis 1991;2(2):74-88. Hematopoie ti c colony-stimu lating fac tors coordinate th e prolifera tion a nd maturation of bone marrow a nd periph era l blood cell s during norma l hematopoiesis . Most of these factors a re now avai lable as reco mbinant human colony-stimulating factors, a nd preclini cal a nd clin ical testing is proceeding ra pid ly. Granulocyte and granulocyte/ macrophage colony-stimulating factors ha ve been lhe mos l exten s ive ly stud ied to da le. In huma n cl inical trials. gran ulocyte colony-stimula ting fac tor improves n eutrophil counts and fun c tion . redu ces episod es of febrile n eutropenia, improves neutroph il recovery a fte r d isease-or treatment-induced myelosuppression. a nd reduces the number of serious infec tions in several ne utropenic disease stales. Granu locyte/macrophage co lony-s timula ting fac lor has s imila r biologica l properties but m ay also improve eosinophil prolifera tion a nd function. a nd pla telet ce ll recovery after myelotoxi c bon e m arrow injury. lnlerl eu!Gn -1 boosls th e effects of granu locyte colonys timulatin g fa cto r a n d granulocyte/ m acrophage colony-s timu lating faclor. but also m ay promote the resolu tion of established infec tion s in conjunc tion with a ntibiotics. The th era p eutic realiti es and fu ture thera peu tic implications of these agents for the th erapy of infectio n s, cancer and h emopoie tic disord ers a re d iscussed .
Key Words: CoLony-stimuLa ting .factors. Feb rile neutropenia. H ematopoies is. NeutropeniaRole potentiel des facteurs recombinants stimulant les colonies hematopo"ietiques dans Ia prevention des infections chez l'hote immunodeprime RESUME: Les fac teu rs s timula nt les co lon ies h em atopoletiqu es coo rd onnent Ia prolifera tion et la m atura tion des ce llul es de Ia m oell e osseuse et du sang periph e riqu e a u cours de l' hematopolese nor mal e. La plupa rl de ces facleurs co nn us sou s le nom de "facteurs sti mul a nt les colonies" font acluell emen t l'obj e l d'evalua tion s precliniqu es e t cliniques qui progressenl