Myeloid leukaemia inhibitory factor maintains the developmental potential of embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells, the totipotent outgrowths of blastocysts, can be cultured and manipulated in vitro and then returned to the embryonic environment where they develop normally and can contribute to all cell lineages. Maintenance of the stem-cell phenotype in vitro requires the presence of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1988-12, Vol.336 (6200), p.684-687
Main Authors: Williams, R. Lindsay, Hilton, Douglas J, Pease, Shirley, Willson, Tracy A, Stewart, Colin L, Gearing, David P, Wagner, Erwin F, Metcalf, Donald, Nicola, Nicos A, Gough, Nicholas M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cell Differentiation - drug effects
Cellular biology
Chimera
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Female
Growth Inhibitors - pharmacology
Growth Inhibitors - physiology
Humans
Interleukin-6
Leukemia
Leukemia Inhibitory Factor
Lymphokines
Medical research
Methods
Mice
Molecules
Recombinant Proteins - analysis
Recombinant Proteins - pharmacology
Stem cells
Stem Cells - drug effects
Stem Cells - physiology
Tumor Cells, Cultured
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Summary:Embryonic stem (ES) cells, the totipotent outgrowths of blastocysts, can be cultured and manipulated in vitro and then returned to the embryonic environment where they develop normally and can contribute to all cell lineages. Maintenance of the stem-cell phenotype in vitro requires the presence of a feeder layer of fibroblasts or of a soluble factor, differentiation inhibitory activity (DIA) produced by a number of sources; in the absence of DIA the ES cells differentiate into a wide variety of cell types. We recently noted several similarities between partially purified DIA and a haemopoietic regulator, myeloid leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a molecule which induces differentiation in M1 myeloid leukaemic cells and which we have recently purified, cloned and characterized. We demonstrate here that purified, recombinant LIF can substitute for DIA in the maintenance of totipotent ES cell lines that retain the potential to form chimaeric mice.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/336684a0