Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pivotal regulator of the immune response. Neutralization or genetic deletion of MIF does not completely abrogate activation responses, however, and deletion of the MIF receptor, CD74, produces a more pronounced phenotype than MIF deficiency. We hypothesized that these observations may be explained by a second MIF-like ligand, and we considered a...

Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and other alkyl sulfates, provided they contain a minimum of 12 carbon atoms (or 322 A in length), stabilize mouse interferon (MIF) in the presence of urea, 2-mercaptoethanol, and heat. When MIF is treated with the alkyl sulfates in the absence of urea and 2-mercaptoethanol, all alkyl sulfates inactivate MIF to the same extent. This suggests that the stabilizing eff...

Filarial nematode parasites establish long-term chronic infections in the context of an antiparasite immunity that is strongly biased toward a Th2 response. The mechanisms that lead to this Th2 bias toward filarial antigens are not clear, but one possibility is that the parasites produce molecules that have the capacity to proactively modify their immunological environment. Here we report that ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Both macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and DJ-1 protein have been shown to relate with cell invasion and metastasis in tumors. However, the role of DJ-1 in invasion and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and its relation to MIF expression in NPC are not fully understood. The aim of present study is to determine whether or not MIF and DJ-1 are correlated w...

The cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) has emerged to be an important regulator of the inflammatory response and is critically involved in the development of septic shock, arthritis, and glomerulonephritis. Although the biological activities of MIF are presumed to require a receptor-based mechanism of action, the protein is also a tautomerase and has a catalytically active N-...

BACKGROUND Severe malarial anemia (SMA) resulting from Plasmodium falciparum infection is one of the leading causes of childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The innate immune mediator macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of SMA. METHODS To investigate the influence of MIF genetic variation on susceptibility to SMA, haplotypes of the MIF -...

Previous studies have established the important role of MIF in the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) for both therapeutic and diagnostic perspectives, but little is known about the expression and function of D-dopachrome tautomerase (DDT), a functional homolog of MIF, in PDAC. In the present study, we demonstrated that DDT was over-expressed in PDAC tissues in a pattern cor...

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic inflammatory cytokine involved in many cellular processes and in particular carcinogenesis. Here, we review the experimental and clinical published data on MIF and its pathways in breast cancer. Experimental data show that MIF is overexpressed in breast cancer cells (BCC) due, at least partly, to its stabilization by HSP90 and upregu...

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was the first cytokine to be identified almost 40 years ago. Homologues of MIF have been isolated recently from invertebrates, making it an interesting molecule from an evolutionary as well as functional perspective. The present study represents the first report of MIF homologues in apicomplexan parasites, belonging to the genus Eimeria. A single ful...

Severe infection or tissue invasion can provoke a catabolic response, leading to severe metabolic derangement, cachexia, and even death. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an important regulator of the host response to infection. Released by various immune cells and by the anterior pituitary gland, MIF plays a critical role in the systemic inflammatory response by counterregulating...