Journal of cellular and molecular medicine
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D-dopachrome tautomerase (D-DT/MIF-2) is a member of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) cytokine superfamily, and a close structural homolog of MIF. MIF and D-DT have been reported to be involved in obesity, but there is little known about the regulation of D-DT in adipose tissue inflammation and wound healing. Subcutaneous adipose tissue was collected from 54 healthy donors and 28 donors with acutely inflamed wounds undergoing wound debridement. ⋯ While D-DT alone did not have a significant effect on in vitro fibroblast wound healing, simultaneous addition of neutralizing MIF antibody resulted in a significant improvement of fibroblast wound healing. Interestingly, expression of the MIF and D-DT receptor CD74 was down-regulated while the MIF receptors CXCR2 and CXCR4 were up-regulated primarily on macrophages indicating that the MIF-CXCR2/4 axis may promote recruitment of inflammatory cells into adipose tissue. Our results describe a reciprocal role of D-DT to MIF in inflamed adipose tissue, and indicate that D-DT may be beneficial in wound repair by improving fibroblast survival and proliferation.