PMID: 9528312Apr 7, 1998Paper

The Steel factor

Revista de investigación clínica; organo del Hospital de Enfermedades de la Nutrición
J R Cáceres-Cortés

Abstract

Mice bearing mutations at either of two loci, dominant White spotting(W) or Steel(Sl), exhibit development defects in hematopoietic, melanocytic and germ cells. Genetics studies have shown that the SI locus encodes the Steel factor (SF), which is the ligand for the tyrosine kinase receptor c-kit, the product of the W locus. SF is synthesized in membrane-bound form and can be processed to produce a soluble form. Cell-cell interaction is important in the production of normal blood cells in vivo and in vitro and in the cellular expansion of leukemic cells. We discuss here how SF decreases the requirements in cell interaction for blast colony formation in acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) and the presence of membrane-bound SF possibly contributes to the density-dependent growth of the AML blasts. We explain that SF is mainly a survival factor for hematopoietic cells, of little proliferative effect, which maintains CD34+ hematopoietic cells in an undifferentiated state. These properties would potentially allow the maintenance of hematopoietic cells in culture for the purpose of marrow purging or gene therapy. The activation of the c-kit signal transduction pathway may play a significant role in the development of many types of non-h...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disease with approximately 20,000 cases per year in the United States. AML also accounts for 15-20% of all childhood acute leukemias, while it is responsible for more than half of the leukemic deaths in these patients. Here is the latest research on this disease.

Blood And Marrow Transplantation

The use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or blood and marrow transplantation (bmt) is on the increase worldwide. BMT is used to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Here is the latest research on bone and marrow transplantation.

AML: Role of LSD1 by CRISPR (Keystone)

Find the latest rersearrch on the ability of CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis to profile the interactions between lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1) and chemical inhibitors in the context of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) here.