〔Abstract〕 Objective To explore the role of leukemia inhibitory factor(LIF) in dental pulp inflammation.Methods Human dental pulp stem cells(hDPSCs) were cultured in vitro as the target cells,the inflammatory response was induced by lipopolysaccharide(LPS),and high-throughput sequencing was used to detect relevant highly expressed genes in the inflammatory state.The expression of LIF under graded concentrations of LPS stimulation was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(qPCR).The expression levels of interleukin-6(IL-6),interleukin-1β(IL-1β),and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were detected after LIF knockdown and overexpression in hDPSCs by qPCR.Normal and inflammatory pulp tissues were collected,and the expression of LIF in both tissues was detected by qPCR and immunofluorescence(IF).Results The expression level of LIF increased in human dental pulp cells after LPS stimulation.The expression level of LIF was subsequently elevated in inflammatory pulp induced by graded concentrations of LPS.The expression of IL-6,IL-1β,and TNF-α was significantly downregulated in hDPSCs after LIF knockdown in response to LPS stimulation,while LIF overexpression upregulated the expression of these cytokines.qPCR and IF assays showed high expression of LIF in inflamed pulp tissue.Conclusion LIF is involved in dental pulp inflammation and promotes the development of pulpitis.