Autocrine growth by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in malignant mesothelioma

The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Volume 82, Issue 5, November 2006, Pages 1904-1906 [Link]

Motohiro Nishimura MD, PhD^a, Kyoko Itoh MD, PhD^b, Kazuhiro Ito MD, PhD^a, Masashi Yanada MD^a, Kunihiko Terauchi MD^a, Shinji Fushiki MD, PhD^b and Junichi Shimada MD, PhD^a

^aDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
^bDepartment of Pathology and Applied Neurobiology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

Accepted 2 February 2006.  Available online 22 October 2006.

Abstract

We report the first case of a malignant mesothelioma expressing not
only granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), but also its
receptor. A 59-year-old male carpenter underwent a
panpleuropneumonectomy, but the tumor relapsed and spread rapidly,
accompanied by leukocytosis. The white blood cell count reached
147,000/mm³ (96.2% neutrophils), and the concentration of serum G-CSF was 77 pg/mL. An autopsy demonstrated that some of the tumor cells produced G-CSF, but more tumor cells and endothelial cells in the tumor expressed G-CSF receptor. It was hypothesized that an autocrine loop involving G-CSF and the G-CSF receptor greatly accelerated the tumor growth.