Colony-Stimulating Factor ELISA Kits

Classification and biological functions of colony-stimulating factors

According to the different ranges of action, colony-stimulating factors can be divided into the following three types:

• Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF, CSF1): promotes the proliferation and differentiation of monocytes (including macrophages and dendritic cells), and plays an important role in the immune system and tissue repair.
• Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF, CSF2): promotes the proliferation and differentiation of various hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow, including granulocytes, monocytes, and dendritic cells, and also has a regulatory effect on the immune cell function.
• Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF, CSF3): promotes the proliferation and differentiation of granulocytes in the bone marrow, improves the patient's immune function, and is one of the most widely used CSFs in clinical practice.

In addition to the common CSFs mentioned above, CSFs also include erythropoietin (Epo), which stimulates red blood cell production, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), which stimulates embryonic stem cells, and thrombopoietin, which stimulates platelet production, all of which have colony-stimulating activity.

Role of colony-stimulating factors in immune regulation

The immune system is an important defense mechanism in the body, and colony-stimulating factors play a critical role in immune regulation.

CSFs-related signaling pathways:

• JAK-STAT signaling pathway: This is the main signaling pathway for CSFs. In this pathway, CSFs bind to cell surface receptors, activate JAK protein kinases, and phosphorylate downstream molecules STAT. The activated STAT proteins enter the nucleus as dimers and activate the transcriptional activity of transcription factors, thereby regulating the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells.
• PI3K-Akt signaling pathway: CSFs activate the PI3K enzyme after binding to cell surface receptors, which in turn activates downstream molecule Akt. The activated Akt protein regulates cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival through multiple pathways.
• MAPK signaling pathway: CSFs activate cell surface receptors, which in turn activate downstream molecule Ras. The activated Ras protein further activates the MEK protein kinase, and then regulates cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival, among other biological functions, by activating downstream molecule MAPK.