TY - JOUR T1 - Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a biomarker in COPD? JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P1484 AU - Gunnar Husebø AU - Per Bakke AU - Jon Hardie AU - Thor Ueland AU - Rune Grønseth AU - Pål Aukrust AU - Tomas Eagan Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1484.abstract N2 - Background: MIF is a pluripotent cytokine associated with several different inflammatory conditions. Despite being known as a central inflammatory mediator for decades, its role within lung inflammation and COPD remains unclear. This study aimed to examine its role in stable COPD and at acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD).Methods: 424 patients with COPD aged 41-76 was compared to 319 controls from the Bergen COPD cohort study. 350 patients were also included in the Bergen COPD exacerbation study, and examined during acute exacerbations. All patients had a FEV1<80% predicted, FEV1/FVC ratio <0.7, and smoking history of more than 10 packyrs. Plasma levels of MIF were compared between the two groups at baseline, and during AECOPD. Linear regression models were fitted with log-transformed MIF as the outcome variable, adjusted for age, sex, smoking, body composition, GOLD stage and C-reactive protein.Results: Median MIF (IQR) in COPD patients was 20.1 (17.5) compared to 14.9 (10.5) in controls (p<0.01). MIF was bivariately associated with age, sex, body composition and CRP (p<0.01 for all). For the regression analysis, log-transformed MIF was significantly higher in COPD-patients, coefficient 0.43 SD (p<0.01) bivariate and 0.32 SD (p<0.01) in the adjusted model. In addition, during follow up, median MIF at AECOPD was significantly elevated 23.3 (29.4) compared to measures at stable disease 19.4 (18.8), p<0.01. The corresponding regression coefficient was 0.31 SD (p<0.01), and 0.32 SD (p<0.01) unadjusted and adjusted respectively.Conclusion: Plasma levels of MIF were significantly higher in COPD patients compared with controls. We also identified an additional increase in MIF-levels at AECOPD. ER -