Stem Cell Factor LIFted as a Promising Clinical Target for Cancer Therapy

摘要

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a monomeric glycoprotein and belongs to the IL6 subfamily of the large "four-helix super-family" of cytokines. LIF acts on responding cells by binding to a heterodimeric membrane receptor complex composed of the ligand-specific LIF receptor (LIFR) and its coreceptor glycoprotein 130 (gp130 or IL6ST), which is shared by all the IL6 family receptor complexes. Despite common signal transduction mechanisms (JAK/STAT, ERK MAPK, and PI3K/AKT), LIF can exert opposite effects by stimulating or inhibiting cell differentiation, proliferation and renewal, and survival, depending upon cell type and maturity, and it has been regarded as the most pleiotropic member of the IL6 family of cytokines (1).