Stem Cell Factor (SCF), also known as c-Kit ligand (KL), steel factor (SLF) and mast cell growth factor (MGF), is a 30 kDa glycoprotein with broad activities on various tissues, including hematopoietic cells, pigment cells, and primordial germ cells. SCF is secreted by endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and bone marrow stromal cells as a membrane-bound form which may be cleaved to release the soluble form. Both forms are active in promoting colony formation from murine bone marrow cells, but membrane-bound SCF is more effective in promoting hematopoieses in vivo, suggesting a role in cellular interactions between hematopoietic and stromal cells. The soluble form is thought to exist in solution as a noncovalently linked dimer. SCF is structurally related to M-CSF (CSF-1) and Flt-3/Flk-2 Ligand (FL) with all three sharing a similar size, existence of transmembrane and soluble forms, four conserved cysteines, and alternative splicing exon locations, but they share little sequence homology.