BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

There’s more to MIF

How MIF, sCD74 could prevent or treat AKI after cardiac surgery

June 14, 2018 10:06 PM UTC

In a May Science Translational Medicine study, a European-U.S. team has shown macrophage migration inhibitory factor or sCD74, a soluble form of one its receptors, could reduce the risk of acute kidney injury in cardiac surgery patients, contributing to emerging evidence that targeting MIF’s protective activity is therapeutically tractable.

MIF is known to interact with multiple receptors, including CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2; IL8RB), CXCR4 (NPY3R) and co-receptor CD44, to promote or prevent inflammation. Most commercial interest has focused on blocking the inflammatory activity of MIF or a related protein, D-dopachrome decarboxylase (DDT; MIF2; MIF-2), to treat cancer and neurological indications; MIF-triggered inflammation also contributes to pathogenesis of myocardial infarction...