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Excerpted from the Federal Register: September 11, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 176), Page 48738-48740, DOCID:fr11se98-92. Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS. "The inventions listed below are owned by agencies of the U.S. Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. ... "Protection Of Neural Cells From Catecholamine-Induced Apoptosis By Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF). G Wistow (NEI). "Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) was shown to have neuroprotective properties with important implications for conditions such as Parkinson's Disease (PD). MIF is widely distributed in mammalian tissues. However, in vivo studies show that while the levels of MIF expression significantly decrease with age in most tissues, including lens, liver and kidney, it is maintained at high levels in neural tissues, brain and retina. This suggests the possibility of an important role for MIF in aging neural tissues. It was also shown that MIF has catalytic enzyme activity towards the toxic quinones dopaminechrome (DNC), epinephrinechrome (EC) and noreprinephrine (NEC) which arises by oxidation of the catecholamine neurotransmitters dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. These catecholamines induce cell death by apoptosis in cultured neural cells and other cell types. It was shown that in cell culture, MIF can block this catecholamine-induced cell death. Death of catecholaminergic neurons is an important feature of PD in human brain. This suggests a physiological and/or therapeutic role for MIF in protection of neural and other cells from apoptosis induced by toxic quinones. Decreased levels of MIF in the aging brain may be a risk factor for PD and similar neurodegenerative disorders. MIF may also be involved in the synthesis of neuromelanin, which is prominent in the aging human substantia nigra, since the guinones DNC, EC and NEC are known neuromelanin precursors. "A surprising additional property of MIF was also observed. Lens epithelial cell cultures differentiated into neuronlike cells, containing neuronal cell markers, axons, and processes, upon the constitutive expression of endogenous recombinant MIF. Thus, in addition to its neuroprotective properties, MIF has potential to contribute to culture methods for neural cells that may be useful in transplantation."