Growth and differentiation factor

Besmer, P. (1991). The kit ligand encoded at the murine Steel locus a pleiotropic growth and differentiation factor. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 3 939-946. 

TABLE 15.6. Growth and Differentiation Factors of the Immune System... 

Reynolds BA, Weiss S. 1993. Central nervous system growth and differentiation factors clinical horizons—truth or dare Curr Opin Biotech 4 734-738. 

Cyclosporine binds to an intracellular protein, cyclophilin. Cyclophilins and similar binding proteins are now referred to collectively as immunophilins and their enzymatic activities are relevant to the actions of immunosuppressants such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus. This complex inhibits the phosphatase activity of calcineurin, which in turn prevents dephosphorylation and translocation of NFAT. NFAT is required to induce a number of cytokine genes, including that for interleukin-2, which serves as a T-cell growth and differentiation factor (Krensky et al., 2005 Matsuda and Koyasu, 2000). Cyclosporine also increases expression of TGF-p, which is a potent inhibitor of IL-2 stimulated cell proliferation and generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (Khanna et al., 1994). 

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is a lymphokine produced by antigen-or mitogen-activated T cells its principal role is regulation of IgE- and eosinophil-mediated immune reactions. It stimulates switching of B cells for production of IgE. It is a growth and differentiation factor for T cells, particularly Th2 cells is a growth factor for mast cells and stimulates the expression of some adhesion molecules on endothelial cells. ... 

IL-4 is a pleiotropic cytokine as demonstrated by the range of cells expressing the IL-4 receptor. IL-4 production is now used as a criterion for classifying CD4 T cells into the Th2 subset. It plays a critical role in IgE- and eosinophil-mediated immunoinflanmiatory reactions. It is also a growth and differentiation factor for lymphocytes and an antiinflammatory molecule that modulates the biological action of macrophages. ... 

Late growth and differentiation factor (increases IgS production)... 

These results clearly demonstrate how cell adhesion onto the developed set of biohybrid materials can be easily timed through the choice of PEG-content and biomolecular functionalisation. More advanced functionalisation schemes additionally utilize non-covalent loading of growth and differentiation factors to locally induce the formation of capillary endothelial cell networks. Based on that, the novel biohybrid hydrogel can be expected to offer valuable extensions of various tissue engineering strategies. 

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