A protective role of macrophage-migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in toxically induced liver fibrosis
D Heinrichs, M Jung, C Offermanns, ML Berres, J Bernhagen, HE Wasmuth · Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie · 2010 · Heft 01
Bibliografische Angaben
Zusammenfassung
Liver fibrosis is a wound healing response to chronic liver injury which is associated with excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the main ECM-producing cells during liver fibrosis and have been considered to play a key role in this context. Owing to their potent chemotactic and immunoregulatory properties, chemokines contribute to the development of liver fibrosis. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic inflammatory cytokine, which has recently been recognized to function as a chemokine-like function (CLF) cytokine in chronic infl…