Enzyme Activity of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor toward Oxidized Catecholamines

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a relatively small, 12.5-kDa protein that is structurally related to some isomerases and for which multiple immune and catalytic roles have been proposed. MIF is widely expressed in tissues with particularly high levels in neural tissues. Here we show...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 274; no. 6; pp. 3268 - 3271
Main Authors:	Matsunaga, Jun, Sinha, Debasish, Pannell, Lew, Santis, Chie, Solano, Francisco, Wistow, Graeme J., Hearing, Vincent J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Inc 05-02-1999 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Subjects:	Aging - metabolism Animals Base Sequence Brain - metabolism Catecholamines - metabolism DNA Primers Humans Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors - metabolism Mice Oxidation-Reduction Recombinant Proteins - metabolism
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a relatively small, 12.5-kDa protein that is structurally related to some isomerases and for which multiple immune and catalytic roles have been proposed. MIF is widely expressed in tissues with particularly high levels in neural tissues. Here we show that MIF is able to catalyze the conversion of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylaminechrome and norepinephrinechrome, toxic quinone products of the neurotransmitter catecholamines 3,4-dihydroxyphenylamine and norepinephrine, to indoledihydroxy derivatives that may serve as precursors to neuromelanin. This raises the possibility that MIF participates in a detoxification pathway for catecholamine products and could therefore have a protective role in neural tissues, which as in Parkinson's disease, may be subject to catecholamine-related cell death.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	0021-9258 1083-351X
DOI:	10.1074/jbc.274.6.3268