CD74 is a survival receptor on colon epithelial cells

Figure 3 MIF stimulation elevates Bcl-2 and survival in CEC and their in vivo. CEC were isolated from CD74-/-, C57BL/6 and from NOD/SCID mice that were i.p injected with MIF (400 ng) or PBS 3.5 h before sacrifice. A: CEC were isolated, and RNA was purified; Bcl-2 or HPRT mRNA were analyzed by RT-PCR. The results presented are representative of four different experiments. The graph is a summary of four separate experiments of quantitative real time PCR using primers for Bcl-2 in CEC isolated from C57BL/6; B: Cells were lysed and Bcl-2 protein expression was analyzed by Western blotting analysis; C, D: C57BL/6, NOD/SCID, CD44-/- and CD74-/- mice were injected with MIF (400 ng) or PBS. After 24 h, mice were sacrificed and their CEC were isolated and stained with FLICA. C: Histograms show FLICA staining in MIF injected (grey line) compared to PBS injected (black line) CEC; D: Graph representing the average of five different experiments, demonstrating decreased apoptosis CEC in MIF treated C57BL/6 and NOD/SCID mice, compared to PBS treated animals.