Targeting MIF family proteins in liver fibrosis: Mechanisms and translational approaches ((2)-P07)

• Subject Area: Biochemistry
• Term: from 2009 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 36842431

MIF is a chemokine-like inflammatory cytokine interacting with CD74/Ii and the chemokine receptors CXCR2/4. In the previous funding periods, we surprisingly unravelled a mechanistically multi-layered, context-dependent role of MIF in liver injury, encompassing CD74/AMPK-dependent hepatoprotection in toxin-triggered fibrogenesis and fatty liver disease, whereas fibrosis was reduced upon Mif deletion in a NASH model. Here, we study the emerging networks and novel molecular players in the MIF protein/receptor family (MIF-2, CXCR7, TIMP-1) and characterize their role in liver fibrogenesis of different aetiologies in experimental settings and translational approaches.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 57: Organ Fibrosis: From Mechanisms of Injury to Modulation of Disease
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Jürgen Bernhagen; Professorin Dr. Marie-Luise Berres