Open AccessMacrophage migration inhibitory factor activates inflammatory responses of astrocytes through interaction with CD74 receptor
Author(s) -
Yu Su,
Yingjie Wang,
Yue Zhou,
Zhenjie Zhu,
Qing Zhang,
Xuejie Zhang,
Wenjuan Wang,
Xiaosong Gu,
Guo A,
Yongjun Wang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
oncotarget
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.373
H-Index - 127
ISSN - 1949-2553
DOI - 10.18632/oncotarget.13739
Subject(s) - macrophage migration inhibitory factor , proinflammatory cytokine , inflammation , medicine , astrocyte , microglia , cd74 , immunology , neuroregeneration , neuroinflammation , neuroprotection , cytokine , pharmacology , immune system , endocrinology , cd8 , central nervous system , mhc class i
Astrocytes, the major glial cell population of the central nervous system (CNS), play important physiological roles related to CNS homeostasis. Growing evidence demonstrates that astrocytes trigger innate immune responses under challenge of a variety of proinflammatory cytokines. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a proinflammatory cytokine mainly secreted from monocytes/macrophages, is involved in inflammation-associated pathophysiology. Here, we displayed that expression of MIF significantly increased following spinal cord injury, in colocalization with microglia and astrocytes. MIF elicited inflammatory responses of astrocytes via activation of CD74 receptor and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) pathway. Transcriptome analysis revealed that inflammation-related factors cholesterol 25-hydroxylase (Ch25h) and phospholipase A2-IIA (Pla2g2a), downstream of MIF/CD74 axis, were potentially implicated in the mediating inflammatory response of astrocytes. Our results provided a new target for interference of CNS inflammation after insults.