巨噬细胞迁移抑制因子与疟原虫感染的相关研究进展

The role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in the infection with malaria parasite

疟疾是世界上主要的致死性感染性疾病之一，但是目前药物抗性虫株的出现、有效疫苗的缺乏，特别是对疟原虫生物学、疟疾病理机制以及宿主在疟原虫感染后的免疫应答等方面了解不足是控制疟疾的主要困难。大量研究发现，机体内的巨噬细胞迁移抑制因子（macrophage migration inhibitory factor，MIF）在包括疟疾在内的多种感染性疾病中发挥着重要作用，因此受到研究者日益广泛的关注。近年来研究者们从疟原虫等寄生虫中也先后鉴定出MIF分子，它们不仅在结构上具有高等生物MIF分子的典型特征，而且还具有与之相似的功能。尽管其在感染过程中的作用尚不清楚，但迄今为止多项研究表明，这些宿主MIF的同源分子具有调节宿主免疫系统的能力。该文综述了宿主MIF和寄生虫MIF在疟疾感染和病理机制中的作用的研究现状。

Malaria is one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world, however, the control step is hampered by the occurrence of drug-resistant parasites, absence of effective vaccine, and the limited knowledge of parasite biology, malaria pathology and host immune response to parasite infection. Host derived maerophage migration inhibitory factor （MIF） is a critical mediator involving in host immune response against infectious diseases, including malaria. Recently, several Plasmodium species derived MIFs were identified and proved to possess similar structure and biological activities with mammalian host MIF. Although the role of Plasmodium MIF during infection is incompletely understood, the potential of it to modulate host immune responses was confirmed. Here, we reviewed the current research on the roles of both host MIF and parasite MIF in malaria infection and pathology.