It is used in immune-based therapies. It is used in immune-based therapies. G-CSF is approved by the FDA for use in people with cancer taking chemotherapy that causes bone marrow toxicity. It is also used by people living with HIV to counteract the bone marrow toxicity of certain drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS-related opportunistic infections.
Neutrophils play a critical role in fighting infection.
Neutropenia is common among people with HIV, often the result of bone marrow toxicity caused by drugs used to treat HIV infection. Before the development of colony-stimulating factors, people would have to stop using drugs with bone marrow toxicity when their neutrophil counts dropped to dangerously low levels. In addition, drugs such as AZT and ganciclovir frequently couldn't be used together because their toxicity to the bone marrow was additive. Now it is common to use these and other drugs in combination with G-CSF, to prevent or reverse low neutrophil counts. Drugs that can cause bone marrow toxicity usually also reduce the number of platelets circulating in the blood, a condition called thrombocytopenia.