MIF: Implications in the Pathoetiology of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

ABSTRACT: Macrophage migration Inhibitory factor (MIF) was one of the earliest pro-inflammatory cytokines to be identified. Increasing interest in this cytokine in recent decades has followed the cloning of human MIF and the generation of Mif(-/-) mice. Deepening understanding of signaling pathways utilized by MIF and putative receptor mechanisms have followed. MIF is distinct from all other cytokines by virtue of its unique induction by and counter regulation of glucocorticoids (GCs). MIF is further differentiated from other cytokines by its structural homology to specific tautomerase and isomerase enzymes and correlative in vitro enzymatic functions. The role of MIF in immune and inflammatory states, including a range of human autoimmune diseases, is now well established, as are the relationships

SUBMITTER: Lang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4641160 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature