Description
Oncostatin M is a member of a cytokine family that includes leukemia-inhibitory factor, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and interleukin 6. The OSM gene encodes a growth regulator which inhibits the proliferation of a number of tumor cell lines. It regulates cytokine production, including IL-6, G-CSF and GM-CSF from endothelial cells. It has the ability to inhibit the growth of human A375 melanoma cells but not normal human fibroblasts. Treatment with recombinant Oncostatin M leads to the inhibition of proliferation and changes in cellular morphology of a number of tumor cell lines derived from a wide variety of tissue types. Oncostatin M also has the ability to inhibit the proliferation of murine M1 myeloid leukemic cells and can induce their differentiation into macrophage-like cells, a function shared by LIF, CSF3, and IL6. The direction of gene transcription was telomeric to centromeric, with the OSM gene located upstream of the LIF gene