Bach Jan-Philipp, Rinn Birgit, Meyer Bernhard, Dodel Richard, Bacher Michael
Institute of Immunology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Oncology. 2008;75(3-4):127-33. doi: 10.1159/000155223. Epub 2008 Sep 15.
MIF has been described as a protein that plays an essential role in both innate and acquired immunity. Previous studies have demonstrated that MIF activates lymphocytes, granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages. Furthermore, MIF can counteract the physiological function of steroids, thus playing a role in immune system regulation. Further evidence for a role of MIF in immunity was obtained in mouse models of autoimmune disorders, where the inhibition of MIF resulted in a more benign disease progression. This observation made MIF an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of these disorders. Moreover, MIF expression was found to be upregulated in a variety of different tumor cells, a finding that further attracted interest. This review provides an overview of the involvement of MIF in both autoimmune disorders and tumorigenesis and summarizes the molecular action of MIF in this context.
巨噬细胞移动抑制因子（MIF）被描述为一种在先天免疫和后天免疫中都发挥重要作用的蛋白质。先前的研究表明，MIF可激活淋巴细胞、粒细胞以及单核细胞/巨噬细胞。此外，MIF能够抵消类固醇的生理功能，从而在免疫系统调节中发挥作用。在自身免疫性疾病的小鼠模型中获得了更多关于MIF在免疫中作用的证据，在这些模型中，抑制MIF会导致疾病进展更为缓和。这一观察结果使MIF成为治疗这些疾病的一个有吸引力的治疗靶点。此外，人们发现MIF在多种不同的肿瘤细胞中表达上调，这一发现进一步引起了关注。本综述概述了MIF在自身免疫性疾病和肿瘤发生中的作用，并总结了在此背景下MIF的分子作用。
