INHIBITION OF MACROPHAGE MIGRATION INHIBITORY FACTOR

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that counteracts the anti-inflammatory activities of glucocorticoids (Calandra and Bucala J. Inflammation 47, pg. 39, 1995). Excessive MIF activity has been implicated in a number of diseases, including septic shock (Bernhagen et al. Nature 365, pg. 756, 1993), arthritis Mikulowska et al. J. Immunology 158, pg. 5514, 1997) and cancer (Ren et al. Ann. Surg. 242, pg. 55,2005). MIF has also been found to enhance insulin secretion in rats (Waeber et al. PNAS 94, pg. 4782, 1997). Not only is MIF a cytokine, but it also has catalytic activity. Although all of its known catalytic activities involve non-physiological substrates, inhibiting the catalytic active-site inhibits its pro-inflammatory function (Lubetsky et al. J. Biol. Chem. 277, pg.24976, 2002). We have a 1.75 Angstrom structure of MIF with a covalently bound inhibitor. We hope to obtain a higher-resolution structure in order to identify the reaction intermediate, or transition state, more clearly. Identification of this intermediate may aid in elucidating a mechanism of inhibition.