Expression and function of members of the cytokine receptor superfamily on breast cancer cells

Abstract

Receptors for the cytokines leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF, interleukin-6 (IL-6), oncostatin M (OSM), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and interleukin-11 (IL-11) are members of the structurally conserved hemopoietin receptor superfamily. In addition, they all share the transmembrane signalling protein gp130. In this paper the expression and function of this family of receptors in breast cancer cells was examined. RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that gp130 was expressed in 12/12 breast cell lines and the specific receptor α-chains for IL-6, LIF, IL-11 and CNTF were expressed in the majority of these cell lines. This was in contrast to other hemopoitin receptors. Examination of 50 clinical sam..