The related members of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of cytokines, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), oncostatin M (OSM) and IL-6 are inflammatory mediators that control differentiated cell functions as well as proliferation. The cellular responsiveness to these cytokines is largely determined by the expression of the appropriate receptor proteins. The receptor expression profile for each cell type is established during differentiation and is often altered during oncogenic transformation. Since inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDAC) has the potential to re-activate epigenetically silenced genes, we asked whether inhibition of HDAC enhances the expression of IL-6 cytokine receptors and, thus, increase desirable cytokine responses. We demonstrate that treatment with FR901228 (FR), an HDAC inhibitor, increases the responsiveness to LIF in different cell types, including normal fibroblasts, epithelial cells, macrophages and splenocytes, as well as various tumor cell lines. Depending on the cell type, FR treatment also enhances the responsiveness to OSM and IL-6. These effects involve a transcriptional induction of the cytokine receptor subunits LIFRalpha, OSMRbeta, gp130, or the transcription factor STAT3. FR-specific induction of LIFRalpha occurs independently of de novo protein synthesis and cell proliferation and is mediated in part by the CBP/p300 coactivator. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments indicate that the expression of LIFRalpha and gp130 genes correlates with the level of acetylated histone 3 associated with the receptor promoter regions. The FR-stimulated expression of IL-6-type cytokine receptors in certain tumor cells also provided improved conditions for suppression of cell growth by taking advantage of the growth inhibitory effect of these cytokines.