Human Recombinant Cardiotrophin-1

Cardiotrophin-1 is a member of the IL-6 (interleukin 6) cytokine family that includes IL-6, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), oncostatin M (OSM), and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF). Cardiotrophin-1 is a pleiotropic cytokine with activity that overlaps with other IL-6 family members. Cardiotrophin-1 is expressed in various tissues including heart, skeletal muscle, liver, lung, kidney, ovary, colon, and prostate. It initiates downstream signaling pathways through the heterodimerization of gp130 and the LIF receptor β subunit (Pennica et al.; Robledo et al.). Binding of cardiotrophin-1 initiates signaling through the JAK/STAT, MEK/ERK, and AKT pathways. Cardiotrophin-1 has been shown to have cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects. It has also been shown to promote cardiomyocyte survival and plays an essential role in the development of neural tissue (López-Yoldi et al.).