BACKGROUND Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) are members of the family of the glycoprotein 130 (gp130)-type cytokines. These cytokines share gp130 as a common signal transducer, which explains why they show some functional redundancy. Recently, it was demonstrated that IL-6 promotes fetal lung branching. Additionally, LIF has been implicated in developmental processes of...

Cardiogenesis is a multistep process regulated by a hierarchy of factors defining each developmental stage of the heart. One of these factors, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a member of the interleukin-6 family of cytokines, is expressed in embryonic and neonatal cardiomyocytes and induces cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Many aspects of embryogenesis are faithfully recapitulated during in vitro d...

Increasing amounts of evidence suggest noninflammatory roles for growth factor and cytokines in development and differentiation. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) belongs to a gp130 pleiotropic family of growth factors that has recently been shown to enhance the survival of rat testicular gonocytes and Sertoli cells. In this study, we show the expression of gp130 and LIF messenger RNAs (mRNAs) i...

Twelve Dutch vowels, each pronounced by 50 male speakers, were analyzed in 18 filter bands comparable in bandwidth with the cat's critical band. By considering the sound levels (in decibels) in these filter bands as dimensions, with a principal-component analysis the 18 dimensions per sound were reduced to four factors which together explain 75% of the total variance. The configuration of the a...

LIF (leukaemia inhibitory factor) is a key cytokine for maintaining self-renewal and pluripotency of mESCs (mouse embryonic stem cells). Upon binding to the LIF receptor, LIF activates three major intracellular signalling pathways: the JAK (Janus kinase)/STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3), PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)/AKT and SHP2 [SH2 (Src homology 2) domain-contain...

BACKGROUND We recently reported that the activation of glycoprotein (gp) 130 by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) upregulates Bcl-xL and exerts antiapoptotic effects in cardiac myocytes. In addition, LIF induces activation of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase and Akt, which are known to be required for cell survival. However, their regulatory roles in cell death remain unknown. METHODS AND RE...

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) expression in the uterus is essential for embryo implantation in mice. Here we describe the spatial and temporal regulation of LIF signaling in vivo by using tissues isolated from uteri on different days over the implantation period. During this time, LIF receptors are expressed predominantly in the luminal epithelium (LE) of the uterus. Isolated epithelium resp...

A-X(0,1) excitation is a promising new approach for NO laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) diagnostics at elevated pressures and temperatures. We present what to our knowledge are the first detailed spectroscopic investigations within this excitation band using wavelength-resolved LIF measurements in premixed methane/air flames at pressures between 1 and 60 bar and a range of fuel/air ratios. Inte...

Using an in vitro model in which endothelial cells can be induced to invade a three-dimensional collagen gel to form capillary-like tubular structures, we demonstrate that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) inhibits angiogenesis in vitro. The inhibitory effect was observed on both bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) and bovine microvascular endothelial (BME) cell, and occurred irrespective of the ang...

We have investigated the function of ~3 nm thick lithium fluoride (LiF) buffer layers in combination with high work function metal contacts such as coinage metals and ferromagnetic metals for use in organic electronics and spintronics. The energy level alignment at organic/LiF/metal interfaces is systematically studied using photoelectron spectroscopy and the integer charge transfer model. The ...