Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a polypeptide initially purified from chick embryo ocular tissue and identified as a trophic factor for embryonic chick ciliary parasympathetic neurons in culture. Subsequent studies have demonstrated that CNTF is a survival factor for additional neuronal cell types including: dorsal root ganglion sensory neurons, sympathetic ganglion neurons, embryonic motor neurons, major pelvic ganglion neurons and hippocampal neurons. CNTF has also been shown to prevent the degeneration of motor axons after axotomy.
The gene for human CNTF has been localized to the proximal region of the long arm of chromosome 11. The cDNA for human CNTF encodes a 200 amino acid residue polypeptide that lacks a signal sequence. CNTF is highly conserved across species and exhibits cross-species activities. Human and rat CNTF share approximately 83% homology in their protein sequence. CNTF is structurally related to IL-6, IL-11, LIF and OSM. All of these four helix bundle cytokines share gp130 as a signal-transducing subunit in their receptor complexes.
