Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 275, Issue 1, 1 November 2004, Pages 158-169
Developmental Biology

Maintenance of mouse trophoblast stem cell proliferation by TGF-β/activin

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.07.032Get rights and content
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Abstract

Mouse trophoblast stem (TS) cells can be grown indefinitely in vitro with FGF4 and embryonic fibroblast conditioned media (EFCM). Here, we report that the active protein components of EFCM include TGF-β and the related factor activin, and that long-term continuous TS cell proliferation is possible in media supplemented with only serum, FGF4, and TGF-β. As trophoblasts are an epithelial cell type, the promotion of TS cell proliferation represents an unusual function for TGF-β and activin since TGF-β in particular is well known as an inhibitor of nontransformed epithelial cell proliferation. Our data suggest that constitutive FGF signaling in TS cells selectively inhibits the ability of TGF-β to repress c-myc expression, a central component of the TGF-β cytostatic transcriptional response previously observed to be lost in other epithelial cell types upon oncogenic Ras transformation.

Keywords

Trophoblast stem cell proliferation
TGF-β
Activin
FGF4
Cytostatic transcriptional response

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