Involvement of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in cancer and novel therapeutic targets

• Published in: Oncology letters Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 2247 - 2253
• Main Authors: Kindt, Nadège, Journe, Fabrice, Laurent, Guy, Saussez, Sven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Greece D.A. Spandidos 01.10.2016; Spandidos Publications; Spandidos Publications UK Ltd
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Cancer; cancer therapy; Carcinogenesis; Care and treatment; Cell cycle; Cell growth; cell proliferation; Cellular proteins; Chemokines; Cytokines; Disease; Gastric cancer; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Inflammatory diseases; invasion; Kinases; Liver cancer; Medical prognosis; Melanoma; Metastasis; migration inhibitory factor; Patients; Prostate; Review; Rodents; Signal transduction; Studies; Tumors; cancer therapy; migration inhibitory factor; cancer; cell proliferation; invasion; angiogenesis
• ISSN: 1792-1074; 1792-1082
• DOI: 10.3892/ol.2016.4929

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was originally identified in 1966 by Bloom and Bennett as a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the inhibition of macrophage motility. Since then, studies have investigated the functional contribution of this pro-inflammatory cytokine in several immune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematous. Recently, MIF has been reported to be involved in a variety of neoplastic diseases. The present review discusses previous cancer research studies that have investigated the involvement of MIF in carcinogenesis, disease prognosis, tumor cell proliferation and invasion, and tumor-induced angiogenesis. Finally, potential therapeutic approaches based on the use of MIF antagonists and neutralizing antibodies are examined. The review concludes that MIF could be a good prognostic biomarker in several types of cancer, but also that the inhibition of MIF could represent a novel therapy against cancer.