Abstract: | We found cells spontaneously differentiated from mouse myeloid leukemia M1 cells were producing a strong differentiation factor in culture medium and established a method to prepare a large quantity of conditioned medium containing the differentiation factor. The factor purified over 4,000-fold from the conditioned medium showed a single peak due to a peptide on a TSK 3000PW column which was coincident with differentiation activity. The molecular weight of the factor estimated by high-performance gel filtration chromatography was 1,300, which is remarkably lower than the values reported for protein differentiation factors reported thus far. M1 cells were induced to differentiate into macrophage-like cells by the factor. |