ArticlePloS one2018
Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor protects cancer cells from immunogenic cell death and impairs anti-tumor immune responses.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying multigenic modules under selection in the tumor genome.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Machine learning-based prognostic model and single-cell transcriptomic integration for identifying brain metastasis-associated malignant subpopulations and potential therapeutic targets in lung adenocarcinoma.Cancer cell international · 2026Article
- CDK4/6 Inhibition Induces CD8Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Targeting sialic acid metabolism: a therapeutic strategy against gastric cancer driven by WZ35.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- The WISP1/Src/MIF Axis Promotes the Malignant Phenotype of Non-Invasive MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells.Cells · 2026Article
- Integrating single-cell and bulk transcriptomes identifies B cell features associated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy sensitivity in rectal cancer.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- From immune desert to hot tumor: the tripartite synergy of tumor microenvironment-exosomes-immunogenic cell death in pioneering solutions.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Clinical significance of MIF in predicting lymph node metastasis and immune-inflammatory characteristics in endometrial cancer: a retrospective study of 361 patients.American journal of translational research · 2026Article
- Review
- Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF): a Janus-faced cytokine in viral pathogenesis and host defense.Immunologic research · 2025Review
- Iron overload-induced ferroptosis in CD8BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Improving immunotherapy responses by dual inhibition of macrophage migration inhibitory factor and PD-1.JCI insight · 2025Article
- The role of GPD2 and glycolysis-related genes in cholangiocarcinoma: insights into prognostic biomarkers and tumor-immune interactions.Cancer cell international · 2025Article
- Macrophage migration inhibitory factor: Exploring physiological roles and comparing health benefits against oncogenic and autoimmune risks (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Multimodal evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid from breast cancer leptomeningeal metastases using circulating tumor cell detection, single-cell sequencing, and proteomics.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Cutaneous Innate Lymphoid Populations Drive IL-17A-Mediated Immunity in Nannizzia gypsea Dermatophytosis.The Journal of investigative dermatology · 2025Article
- Cell states and neighborhoods in distinct clinical stages of primary and metastatic esophageal adenocarcinoma.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Article
- Peripheral CD4Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- A novel HVEM-Fc recombinant protein for lung cancer immunotherapy.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2025Article
- Unveiling the immunomodulatory dance: endothelial cells' function and their role in non-small cell lung cancer.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) is an inflammatory cytokine that is overexpressed in a number of cancer types, with increased MIF expression often correlating with tumor aggressiveness and poor patient outcomes. In this study, we aimed to better understand the link between primary tumor expression of MIF and increased tumor growth. Using the MMTV-PyMT murine model of breast cancer, we observed that elevated MIF expression promoted tumor appearance and growth. Supporting this, we confirmed our previous observation that higher MIF expression supported tumor growth in the 4T1 murine model of breast cancer. We subsequently discovered that loss of MIF expression in 4T1 cells led to decreased cell numbers and increased apoptosis in vitro under reduced serum culture conditions. We hypothesized that this increase in cell death would promote detection by the host immune system in vivo, which could explain the observed impairment in tumor growth. Supporting this, we demonstrated that loss of MIF expression in the primary tumor led to an increased abundance of intra-tumoral IFNgamma-producing CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and that depletion of T cells from mice bearing MIF-deficient tumors restored growth to the level of MIF-expressing tumors. Furthermore, we found that MIF depletion from the tumor cells resulted in greater numbers of activated intra-tumoral dendritic cells (DCs). Lastly, we demonstrated that loss of MIF expression led to a robust induction of a specialized form of cell death, immunogenic cell death (ICD), in vitro. Together, our data suggests a model in which MIF expression in the primary tumor dampens the anti-tumor immune response, promoting tumor growth.
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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.