Summary Early pregnancy factor (EPF) has been identi®ed as a homologue of chaperonin 10 (cpn10) with immunosuppressive and growth factor properties. As a homologue of cpn10, it belongs to the heat shock family of proteins (hsp) but, unlike other members of this family, EPF is detected extracellularly. Early pregnancy factor was ®rst discovered in pregnancy serum by the rosette inhibition test, and the novelty of its discovery was that its presence could diagnose pregnancy within 6±24 h of a fertile mating. As well as being a monitor of the presence of a viable embryo, it is necessary for embryonic survival. In this capacity it acts as both an immunosuppressant and growth factor. Early pregnancy factor is also a product of proliferating primary and neoplastic cells and functions as an autocrine growth factor both in vivo and in vitro. It has a modifying e ect on the outcome of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of multiple sclerosis. Early pregnancy factor is considered to be one of the major factors involved in the modi®cation of multiple sclerosis observed during pregnancy.