RAPID ACTIVATION OF THE MAP KINASE PATHWAY IN HEMATOPOIETIC-CELLS BY ERYTHROPOIETIN, GRANULOCYTE-MACROPHAGE COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR AND INTERLEUKIN-3

MAP kinases are a family of serine/threonine specific protein kinases becoming activated in response to different proliferative stimuli by phosphorylation at both threonine and tyrosine residues. We report the involvement of MAP kinases in the signal transduction of the hematopoietic growth factors erythropoietin (EPO), granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-3 (IL-3) in the factor dependent human erythroleukemic cell line TF-1, suggesting a crucial role of these enzymes in the regulation of proliferation of hematopoietic cells. Both time course and degree of MAP kinase activation were similar for all three cytokines. A slightly lower stimulation effect of EPO corresponds to the observation that EPO stimulated cells proliferate at a lower rate.