| Description | the membrane bound form is a surface molecule of 248 aa, that includes 23 aa of the highly hydrophobic transmembrane domain; the second form corresponds to a soluble protein constituted by the first 165 aa of the extracellular domain released by a posttranslational processing, consisting in a proteolytic cleavage of the mature SCF in the extracellular juxtamembrane region; the full length transcripts encode for a transmembrane precursor of the soluble protein; an alternative splicing that involves the region corresponding to exon 6 of the SCF cDNA, which contains the proteolytic cleavage site, encodes for a surface molecule. |
| Expression | SCF transcripts have been found in the cells surrounding kit-positive cells, such as granulosa and Sertoli cells, bone marrow stromal cells and in fibroblasts, keratinocytes and mature granulocytes; SCF expression of peripheral lymphocytes and monocytes is still controversial. |
| Localisation | plasma membrane or interstitial space |
| Function | SCF/MGF binding of receptor KIT, with tyrosine kinase activity, induces receptor dimerization, autophosphorylation and signal transduction via molecules containing SH2-domains; the soluble and the transmembrane protein have a different biological activity; the soluble form mainly stimulates cellular proliferation; the membrane-bound isoform induces an activation of the receptor more prolonged than the soluble one |
| Homology | with PDGFRb, PDGFRa, and CSF-1. |
| Stem cell factor is encoded at the Sl locus of the mouse and is the ligand for the c-kit tyrosine kinase receptor. |
| Zsebo KM, Williams DA, Geissler EN, Broudy VC, Martin FH, Atkins HL, Hsu RY, Birkett NC, Okino KH, Murdock DC |
| Cell. 1990 ; 63 (1) : 213-224. |
| PMID 1698556 |
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| Primary structure and functional expression of rat and human stem cell factor DNAs. |
| Martin FH, Suggs SV, Langley KE, Lu HS, Ting J, Okino KH, Morris CF, McNiece IK, Jacobsen FW, Mendiaz EA |
| Cell. 1990 ; 63 (1) : 203-211. |
| PMID 2208279 |
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| [Some data on the state of the hematoencephalic barrier in cerebral cysticercosis.] |
| ANTONOV IP, SIZONENKO TP |
| Zhurnal nevropatologii i psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova (Moscow, Russia : 1952). 1963 ; 63 : 213-216. |
| PMID 14013385 |
| |
| Coexpression of the stem cell factor and the c-kit genes in small-cell lung cancer. |
| Hibi K, Takahashi T, Sekido Y, Ueda R, Hida T, Ariyoshi Y, Takagi H, Takahashi T |
| Oncogene. 1991 ; 6 (12) : 2291-2296. |
| PMID 1722571 |
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| Altered metabolism of mast-cell growth factor (c-kit ligand) in cutaneous mastocytosis. |
| Longley BJ Jr, Morganroth GS, Tyrrell L, Ding TG, Anderson DM, Williams DE, Halaban R |
| The New England journal of medicine. 1993 ; 328 (18) : 1302-1307. |
| PMID 7682288 |
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| Expression of interleukins 1, 3, 6, stem cell factor and their receptors in acute leukemia blast cells and in normal peripheral lymphocytes and monocytes. |
| Ferrari S, Grande A, Manfredini R, Tagliafico E, Zucchini P, Torelli G, Torelli U |
| European journal of haematology. 1993 ; 50 (3) : 141-148. |
| PMID 7682516 |
| |
| Human peripheral blood granulocytes and myeloid leukemic cell lines express both transcripts encoding for stem cell factor. |
| Ramenghi U, Ruggieri L, Dianzani I, Rosso C, Brizzi MF, Camaschella C, Pietsch T, Saglio G |
| Stem cells (Dayton, Ohio). 1994 ; 12 (5) : 521-526. |
| PMID 7528592 |
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| Coexpression of the c-kit receptor and the stem cell factor in gynecological tumors. |
| Inoue M, Kyo S, Fujita M, Enomoto T, Kondoh G |
| Cancer research. 1994 ; 54 (11) : 3049-3053. |
| PMID 7514496 |
| |
