Colony-stimulating factors and functional groups of lymphokines
THE CONTEXT
The passage explains colony-stimulating factor activity and groups lymphokines by the cells they affect.
Inflammatory mediation and stem cell growth
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The opening continuation describes an inflammatory response mediator involved in host defence against infections, but does not identify it.
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Colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) stimulate growth and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells in bone marrow.
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CSFs are named after the types of cell colonies they induce in soft agar culture.
Lymphokines affecting macrophages and lymphocytes
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The macrophage group includes migration inhibitory factor (MIF), macrophage activation/aggregation factor (MAF), and macrophage chemotactic factor (MCF).
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The lymphocyte group includes blastogenic/mitogenic factor (BF/MF), T cell growth factor (TGF), and B cell growth factor (BGF).
Other functional groups
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Chemotactic factor (CF) and colony-stimulating factor (CSF)* are listed as affecting granulocytes.
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Lymphotoxin (LT), interferon (IFN), and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) are listed as affecting cultured cells.
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Skin-reactive factor (SRF) and transfer factor (TF)* are listed in the remaining group.