Activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is required for maintaining self-renewal and pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Here, we have confirmed transcription factor Forkhead Box m1 (Foxm1) as a LIF/Stat3 downstream target that mediates LIF/Stat3-dependent mESC self-renewal. The expression of Foxm1 relies on LI...

Cholangiocarcinoma is an aggressive, strongly chemoresistant liver malignancy. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), an IL-6 family cytokine, promotes progression of various carcinomas. To investigate the role of LIF in cholangiocarcinoma, we evaluated the expression of LIF and its receptor (LIFR) in human samples. LIF secretion and LIFR expression were assessed in established and primary human cho...

BACKGROUND A receptive endometrium is essential for maternal-embryonic molecular communication during implantation. However, the specific molecular regulatory mechanisms of the endometrial capacity remain poorly understood. Here, we examined activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) expression in human endometria and the functional effect of ATF3 on embryo attachment in vitro. METHODS Immunohi...

Injury to peripheral nerves results in the infiltration of immune cells, which remove axonal- and myelin-derived material. Schwann cells could play a key role in this process by regulating macrophage infiltration. We show here that medium conditioned by primary denervated Schwann cells or the Schwannoma cell line RN22 produces chemotactic activity for macrophages. The presence of blocking antib...

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) has many biological actions which parallel those of IL-1, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, but its role in the pathogenesis of human disease is unknown. A specific radioreceptor competition assay capable of detecting LIF at concentrations above 1 ng/ml (45 pM) was developed. To identify disease states in which LIF might be involved, a cross-sectional survey...

The bioactive lysophospholipids lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) have diverse effects on the developing nervous system and neural progenitors, but the molecular basis for their pleiotropic effects is poorly understood. We previously defined LPA and S1P signaling in proliferating human neural progenitor (hNP) cells, and the current study investigates their role in ne...

Oncostatin M (OSM) is a member of a family of cytokines that includes ciliary neurotrophic factor, interleukin-6, interleukin-11, cardiotrophin-1, and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). The receptors for these cytokines consist of a common signaling subunit, gp130, to which other subunits are added to modify ligand specificity. We report here the isolation and characterization of a cDNA encoding...

The cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is expressed by skeletal muscle and induces proliferation of myoblasts. We hypothesized that LIF is a contraction-induced myokine functioning in an autocrine fashion to activate gene regulation of human muscle satellite cell proliferation. Skeletal muscle LIF expression, regulation, and action were examined in two models: 1) young men performing a b...

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic IL-6 family cytokine and its maternal uterine expression is critical for mouse blastocyst implantation. In the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), although the blastocyst hatching phenomenon is quite interesting and LIF is shown to regulate hatching, information is not available on the embryonic and uterine expression of LIF and hormonal regu...