Macrophage migration inhibitory factor expression in ovarian cancer.

Objective: We evaluated the hypothesis that ovarian cancer patients have significantly higher levels of serum macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF).

Study Design: MIF levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines and immortalized normal ovarian surface epithelial cells and in serum of ovarian cancer patients (n = 54) and age-matched healthy women (n = 60). To determine the impact of Toll-like receptor-4 ligation on MIF levels, cells were treated for 48 hours with lipopolysaccharide.