CNTF and epilepsy: In 1999, Jankowsky and Patterson (2) observed increased levels of oncostatin M (OSM), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), ciliary neurotrophic factor (cNTF) and other cytokines in the hippocampi of pilocarpine-induced epileptic rats, and proposed that cytokines were possibly intercellular informational molecules in the mechanism underlying the formation of epilepsy.