Pref-1 is an epidermal growth factor-like domain-containing transmembrane protein that is
cleaved to generate a soluble factor. It is abundant in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes but absent in
mature adipocytes. Constitutive expression of pref-1 or the addition of its ectodomain inhibits
adipogenesis. We find that thepref-1 gene is an early target of dexamethasone, a
component of the dexamethasone/methylisobutylxanthine differentiation mixture used
routinely for adipoconversion. The time course of the decrease in pref-1 mRNA by …