ArticleThe Journal of experimental medicine2003
MIF signal transduction initiated by binding to CD74.
Article in The Journal of experimental medicine, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 574 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
574 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1,107 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prognostic and Clinicopathological Significance of CD74 Expression in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Myeloid-derived MIF is a central regulator of MDSC-driven T-cell dysfunction in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Oncoimmunology · 2026Article
- Molecular mechanisms of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in related diseases (Review).Biomedical reports · 2026Review
- STEAP2 Is a Candidate Marker of a 7q/CNA-Associated Iron-Handling Malignant Epithelial State in Lung Adenocarcinoma.Cancers · 2026Article
- Identification of Ferro-Aging-Related Biomarkers for Ulcerative Colitis Through Integrated Machine Learning, Single-Cell Analysis, and Spatial Transcriptomics.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026Article
- Integrated Single Cell Analysis Reveals the Transcriptional Heterogeneity of Mouse Double Negative T Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Cerebrovascular vulnerability and fibrosis in human brain aneurysms.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- High expression of CD74 is associated with poor prognosis and tumor immune infiltration in Acute Myeloid Leukemia.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Helminth proteins recapitulate key structural motifs of MIF to facilitate immunomodulation of host receptors.iScience · 2026Article
- Hypoxia Induces Adaptive Lymphangiogenesis via Cd74 and Vegfr3 to Modulate Pulmonary Hypertension.Circulation research · 2026Article
- Multi-modality Graph Representation Learning for Malignant Cell Identification from scRNA-seq using DeepMalignant.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Single-cell reanalysis highlights the MIF-PTGDR axis as a candidate immunoregulatory program in hepatocellular carcinoma.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Crystal structure of Plasmodium vivax macrophage migration inhibitory factor.Acta crystallographica. Section F, Structural biology communications · 2026Article
- Inhibition of macrophage migration inhibitory factor attenuates bleomycin-induced murine pulmonary fibrosis via the MAPK pathway.Respiratory research · 2026Article
- Targeting CD74 may mitigate immune-escape features and enhance BCMA CAR-T activity in preclinical models of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Article
- MIF-CD74 signaling drives immune modulation in medulloblastoma.Neuro-oncology · 2026Article
- Circulating MIF, D-DT, and Soluble CD74 in End-Stage Heart Failure Patients Receiving LVAD: An Exploratory Clinical Study and Effects on Adult Cardiac Myofibroblasts.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- The MIF-CD74 axis drives colorectal cancer via glycolytic reprogramming and is targeted by a novel small-molecule inhibitor.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Anticancer Treatment Influences TREM2 in Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Lung Cancer.Cancer research and treatment · 2026Article
514 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) accounts for one of the first cytokine activities to have been described, and it has emerged recently to be an important regulator of innate and adaptive immunity. MIF is an upstream activator of monocytes/macrophages, and it is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of septic shock, arthritis, and other inflammatory conditions. The protein is encoded by a unique but highly conserved gene, and X-ray crystallography studies have shown MIF to define a new protein fold and structural superfamily. Although recent work has begun to illuminate the signal transduction pathways activated by MIF, the nature of its membrane receptor has not been known. Using expression cloning and functional analysis, we report herein that CD74, a Type II transmembrane protein, is a high-affinity binding protein for MIF. MIF binds to the extracellular domain of CD74, and CD74 is required for MIF-induced activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 MAP kinase cascade, cell proliferation, and PGE2 production. A recombinant, soluble form of CD74 binds MIF with a dissociation constant of approximately 9 x 10-9 Kd, as defined by surface plasmon resonance (BIAcore analysis), and soluble CD74 inhibits MIF-mediated extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation in defined cell systems. These data provide a molecular basis for MIF's interaction with target cells and identify it as a natural ligand for CD74, which has been implicated previously in signaling and accessory functions for immune cell activation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.