A bone-resorbing product of mouse spleen cells found to have differentiation-inducing activity was most probably leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF). This revealed that LIF is a cytokine active on bone, in addition to its several other sites of action. In organ culture of newborn mouse bone, recombinant LIF promoted bone resorption by a prostaglandin-dependent process. Resorption by isolated rat osteoclasts was also promoted by LIF through an initial action on osteoblasts which was receptor-mediated. Incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA was increased by LIF in cells (most probably osteoblasts) of the newborn mouse bones. Osteoblasts have been shown to produce LIF, and the amount is increased by treatment with retinoic acid or TNF-alpha. LIF also acts directly on osteoblasts to inhibit plasminogen activator activity, by stimulating the synthesis of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 mRNA and protein. The latter actions are very similar to those of TGF-beta. Again like TGF-beta, LIF was ineffective in promoting bone resorption in vitro in fetal rat long bones. These results, together with the in vivo data showing that high circulating levels of LIF in the mouse are accompanied by a substantial increase in trabecular bone mass, indicate that LIF is another cytokine with potent actions on bone and potentially important interactions with other osteotrophic factors.