LIF Cytokine Delays Photoreceptor Degeneration

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 18 Dec 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Neural stress or injury activates opposing signaling pathways that promote survival and cell death. A thorough understanding of these pathways could allow researchers to effectively shift the balance in favor of survival without exacerbating damage. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is one of many pro-survival cytokines that are induced by neural injury. This week, Joly et al. demonstrate the importance of LIF in protecting photoreceptors from degeneration resulting from excessive light exposure or from a mutation that causes retinal degeneration. LIF was upregulated in a subset of Müller glia cells under both conditions compared to control, and LIF knock-out accelerated photoreceptor degeneration. LIF knock-out also prevented upregulation of other proteins in response to injury, notably fibroblast growth factor 2, which is thought to be a key neuroprotective factor. Injecting LIF into the eyes reversed the effect of knock-out on protein expression, but its effect on degeneration has yet to be demonstrated.

Authors:
Sandrine Joly, Christina Lange, Markus Thiersch, Marijana Samardzija, and Christian Grimm

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Source:
Sara Harris
Society for Neuroscience