CSF-1 induced gene expression in human whole blood

CSF-1 is a key regulator of the macrophage lineage. Macrophages are key mediators of inflammation, cancer, and homeostasis and in some cases differentiate from infiltrating blood monocytes. To better understand the the impact of CSF-1 on blood monocytes, transcriptomic changes in ex vivo cultured human whole blood were measured 4 and 24 hrs after addition of CSF-1 and compared to blood cultured without adding CSF-1. The expression of more than 50 genes was induced with geometric means >2-fold relative to unstimulated control conditions (p<0.05) at either 4 or 24 hrs. Blood from 3 healthy donors was cultured ex vivo with and without supplementation with 50 ng/ml CSF-1 and total RNA was isolated at 4 and 24 hrs and submitted to microarray analysis using GeneChip HT HG-U133+ PM 96 array plates.