Cloning the human gene for macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF)

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was originally identified as a lymphokine. However, recent work strongly suggests a wider role for MIF beyond the immune system. It is expressed specifically in the differentiating cells of the immunologically privileged eye lens and brain, is a delayed early response gene in fibroblasts, and is expressed in many tissues. Here, we report the structure of the remarkably small gene for human MIF that has three exons separated by introns of only 189 and 95 bp and covers less than 1 kb. The cloned sequence also includes 1 kb of 5' flanking region. Primer extension and 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) of human brain RNA both indicate the presence of a single transcription start site in a TATA-less promoter. Northern blot analysis shows a single size of MIF mRNA (about 800 nt) in all human tissues examined. In contrast to previous reports, we find no evidence for multiple genes for MIF in the human genome.