Regulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein in serum-free mouse embryo (SFME) cells by leukemia inhibitory factor and related peptides.

The serum-free mouse embryo (SFME) cell line, derived in serum-free medium from 16-day-old mouse embryos, exhibits unique properties. SFME cells grow indefinitely in culture without senescence, require epidermal growth factor (EGF) or fibroblast growth factor (FGF) for survival and are growth-inhibited by serum. The cell line expresses glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in response to transforming growth factor beta or serum and cells with similar properties can be isolated directly from brain. Culture of SFME cells with leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a peptide implicated in neural tissue development, also resulted in expression of GFAP. Other peptides that share signal transduction mechanisms with LIF--ciliary neurotropic factor, oncostatin M and interleukin-6--also caused expression of GFAP in these cells. These effects were inhibited by concentrations of EGF or FGF that promoted rapid cell growth.