The expression and clinical significance of migration inhibitory factor in human pulmonary tissues with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective To investigate the expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in pulmonary tissues from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the relationship with its clinical features. Methods One hundred and eighty patients who underwent pulmonary bullectomy lobectomy due to pneumatocele from January 2015 to September 2018 in Longgang Central Hospital were enrolled and classified into patients without COPD (control group)and patients with COPD (COPD group), with 90 patients each group. According to the lung function parameters, 90 patients with COPD were divided into the mild COPD group, the moderate COPD group, and the severe COPD group. The levels of mRNA and protein of MIF were measured with RT-PCR, ELISA and Western blot. One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and SNK-q test were used to analyze the results with SPSS 18.0, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The level of MIF in pulmonary tissues from the control group was obviously lower than those in the COPD group (P<0.05). The level of MIF in pulmonary tissues in the severe COPD group was obviously higher than those in pulmonary tissues in the mild COPD, moderate COPD and control groups (P<0.05). MIF was positively correlated with the lung function parameters (P<0.05). Conclusion The high expression of MIF in pulmonary tissues is closely related to the severity of COPD. Key words: Migration inhibitory factor; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Real time-PCR; ELISA; Western blot