MIF In Atherosclerosis

Another of the diseases in which the role of MIF is well understood is atherosclerosis. For several years, atherosclerosis has been understood as a process dominated by inflammatory mechanisms, including monocyte-macrophage recruitment and activation in response to lipids such as oxidized LDL. MIF has been shown to directly contribute to atherosclerotic lesional macrophage recruitment and activation, as well as to mechanisms of plaque rupture. MIF is overexpressed in human atherosclerotic lesions, and MIF-deficient mice are protected from multiple different models of atherosclerosis.

Cortical’s small molecule MIF antagonist compounds have demonstrated efficacy in widely accepted in vivo models of atherosclerosis.