Figures & data
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of LIF signaling pathways. LIF binds to LIFR, which leads to the heterodimerization of LIFR and gp130. This is followed by the activation of JAK-STAT3, PI3K/Akt, and Erk1/2 signaling pathways. The activated STAT3 leads to increased expression of SOCS3, which serves as a negative feedback signal to LIF stimulated activation of STAT3 and Erk1/2.
Table 1. Summary of IL-6-type cytokines and their receptor complexes
Figure 2. Schematic representation of LIF regulated pluripotency circuit in ESCs. Upon LIF activation, JAK-STAT3 promotes the expression of the core pluripotency circuit (green box) together with PI3K/Akt for pluripotency maintenance. Activated STAT3 also directly suppresses differentiation by inhibiting the expression of lineage commitment genes.
Figure 3. Schematic representation of STAT3 regulated somatic cell reprogramming via epigenetic mechanisms. During late-stage reprogramming, STAT3 orchestrates the epigenetic changes leading to complete pluripotency, by ensuring full activation of core pluripotency genes through promoting DNA demethylation and open chromatin formation, while suppressing the viral transgenes and lineage commitment genes by promoting de novo DNA methylation and probably PRC2 mediated histone modifications.
