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Updated: Dec 12, 2025

In Vitro Assay to Study Tumor-macrophage Interaction
Published on: August 1, 2019
Prognostic significance of macrophage migration inhibitory factor expression in cancer patients: A systematic review
Hyun Min Koh1, Dong Chul Kim2,3,4
1Department of Pathology, Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital, Changwon.
Background:
Recent studies showed that Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is overexpressed and closely associated with prognosis in cancer patients. The present study was systematically evaluated the prognostic significance of MIF expression in cancer patients.
Methods:
PubMed, Cochrane library and Scopus were searched for eligible studies up to January 2020. Pooled hazard ratio with confidence interval (CI) was determined to assess the relationship between MIF expression and survival in cancer patients.
Results:
A total of 8 studies comprising 847 cancer patients were included in this meta-analysis. For overall survival, the pooled hazard ratio was 2.23 (95% CI 1.67-2.99, P < .001). For disease-free survival, the pooled hazard ratio was 2.24 (95% CI 1.69-2.96, P < .001). The results suggested that high expression of MIF was significantly related to poor overall survival and disease-free survival in cancer patients.
Conclusion:
MIF expression could be a valuable prognostic factor in cancer patients.

