The macrophage-colony stimulating factor gene is a growth factor-inducible immediate early gene in fibroblasts.

Polypeptide growth factors rapidly induce the expression of a group of genes during the onset of cell proliferation. We report that one of these genes, which is induced by several mitogens in NIH 3T3 cells, is identical to the gene for macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF). In contrast to other immediate early genes, the expression of the M-CSF gene lasted for several hours. Run-on assays demonstrated that the increased level of M-CSF mRNA following stimulation was mainly due to transcriptional activation. Our results support the notion that the products of the immediate early genes are not all mediators of fibroblasts growth but that some play an important role in other physiological responses such as wound repair.