Structures of <i>Trichomonas vaginalis</i> macrophage migratory inhibitory factor
The unicellular parasitic protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis causes trichomoniasis, the most prevalent nonviral sexually transmitted disease globally. T. vaginalis evades host immune responses by producing homologs of host proteins, including cytokines such as macrophage migration inhibitory factor. T. vaginalis macrophage migration inhibitory factor (TvMIF) helps to facilitate the survival of T. vaginalis during nutritional stress conditions, increases prostate cell proliferation and invasiveness, and induces inflammation-related cellular pathways, thus mimicking the ability of human MIF to increase inflammation and cell proliferation. The production, crystallization and three structures of N-terminally hexahistidine-tagged TvMIF reveal a prototypical MIF trimer with a topology similar to that of human homologs (hMIF-1 and hMIF-2). The N-terminal tag obscures the expected pyruvate-binding site. The similarity of TvMIF to its human homologs can be exploited for structure-based drug discovery.
Authors
- Scott Lovell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3215-4472)
- Sandhya Subramanian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5853-7498)
- Wesley C. Van Voorhis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6141-2015)
- Lijun Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0514-281X)
- Elizabeth K. Harmon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0017-2705)
- Aruesha Srivastava
- Peter J. Myler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0056-0513)
- Rabih Darwiche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1909-4927)
- Lynn K. Barrett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6815-7594)
- K.P. Battaile (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0833-3259)
- Oluwatoyin A. Asojo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4043-2700)
- Justin K. Craig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5275-438X)
- A. G. C. Nair
- Ruiping Gao
- Omolara C. O. Dawson
Institutions
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Center for Infectious Disease Research (US)
- Infectious Disease Research Institute (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Fribourg (CH)
- University of Washington (US)
- New York Structural Biology Center (US)
- New England Disabled Sports (US)
- Dartmouth Cancer Center
- American University of Beirut (LB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology Communications
- Published
- 2024-11-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1107/s2053230x24011105
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.24
Funders
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases