- Targeted disruption of the low-affinity leukemia inhibitory factor receptor gene causes placental, skeletal, neural and metabolic defects and results in perinatal death. Ware, C.B., Horowitz, M.C., Renshaw, B.R., Hunt, J.S., Liggitt, D., Koblar, S.A., Gliniak, B.C., McKenna, H.J., Papayannopoulou, T., Thoma, B. Development (1995)