Cytokine-Induced Nuclear Factor Kappa B Activation Promotes the Survival of Developing Neurons

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) comprise a group of structurally related cytokines that promote the survival of subsets of neurons in the developing peripheral nervous system, but the signaling pathways activated by these cytokines that prevent neuronal apoptosis are unclear. Here, we show that these cytokines activate NF-κB in cytokine-dependent developing sensory neurons. Preventing NF-κB activation with a super-repressor IκB-α protein markedly reduces the number of neurons that survive in the presence of cytokines, but has no effect on the survival response of the same neurons to brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF), an unrelated neurotrophic factor that binds to a different class of receptors. Cytokine-dependent sensory neurons cultured from embryos that lack p65, a transcriptionally active subunit of NF-κB, have a markedly impaired ability to survive in response to cytokines, but respond normally to BDNF. There is increased apoptosis of cytokine-dependent neurons in p65-/-embryos in vivo, resulting in a reduction in the total number of these neurons compared with their numbers in wild-type embryos. These results demonstrate that NF-κB plays a key role in mediating the survival response of developing neurons to cytokines.