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Review
. 2023 May 9;12(5):694.
doi: 10.3390/biology12050694.

AIF1: Function and Connection with Inflammatory Diseases

Diego De Leon-Oliva  1   2 , Cielo Garcia-Montero  1   2 , Oscar Fraile-Martinez  1   2 , Diego Liviu Boaru  1   2 , Luis García-Puente  1   2 , Antonio Rios-Parra  1   2   3 , Maria J Garrido-Gil  1 , Carlos Casanova-Martín  1   2 , Natalio García-Honduvilla  1   2 , Julia Bujan  1   2 , Luis G Guijarro  1   2   4 , Melchor Alvarez-Mon  1   2   5 , Miguel A Ortega  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

AIF1: Function and Connection with Inflammatory Diseases

Diego De Leon-Oliva et al. Biology (Basel). .

Abstract

Macrophages are a type of immune cell distributed throughout all tissues of an organism. Allograft inflammatory factor 1 (AIF1) is a calcium-binding protein linked to the activation of macrophages. AIF1 is a key intracellular signaling molecule that participates in phagocytosis, membrane ruffling and F-actin polymerization. Moreover, it has several cell type-specific functions. AIF1 plays important roles in the development of several diseases: kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases and neurological disorders, and in transplants. In this review, we present a comprehensive review of the known structure, functions and role of AIF1 in inflammatory diseases.

Keywords: allograft inflammatory factor 1; intracellular signaling; macrophages; microglia; phagocytosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structure and sequence of AIF1. (a) Secondary structure of AIF1. EF-hand 1 and -2 are colored in yellow and green, respectively. AlphaFold code AF-P55008-F1. Illustrated by the program UCSF Chimera. (b) 147 amino acid sequence of AIF1. Biologically active sites are labeled as shown in the legend.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overview of immune functions: activation of macrophages, activation of microglia, polarization of T-lymphocytes and dendritic cells and transcytosis in M cells. IL-6: interleukin-6, CCL3: C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 3, NO: nitric oxide, ATP: adenosine triphosphate, IgA: immunoglobulin A, DNMT3: DNA methyltransferase, IRF8: interferon regulatory factor 8, cDC1: classical dendritic cell type 1, Mo-DC: monocyte-derived dendritic cell.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overview of nonimmune functions of AIF1: membrane ruffling, F-actin binding-activity, activation of endothelial cells and regulation of cell cycle progression. M-CSF: macrophage-colony stimulating factor, AIF1: allograft inflammatory factor 1, PLC-γ: phospholipase C-γ, EC: endothelial cell, VSMC: vascular smooth muscle cell, G-CSF: granulocyte-colony stimulating factor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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