Macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1/growth differentiation factor 15 (MIC-1/GDF15) is a divergent transforming growth factor (TGFβ) superfamily cytokine implicated in biological and disease processes including metabolism, cancer, and chronic inflammation, but whose receptor has remained elusive. Four laboratories have recently identified GFRAL, an orphan receptor of the glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptor α family, as the receptor for MIC-1/GDF15, signaling though the coreceptor Ret. These data identify a new systemic to central nervous system (CNS) circuit that regulates metabolism in response to stress and which could be targeted to treat both severe obesity and anorexia/cachexia syndrome.

巨噬细胞抑制性细胞因子-1 /生长分化因子15（MIC-1 / GDF15）是一种发散转化生长因子（TGFβ）超家族细胞因子，与生物学和疾病过程有关，包括代谢，癌症和慢性炎症，但其受体仍然难以捉摸。四个实验室最近已将GFRAL（胶质细胞衍生的神经营养因子（GDNF）受体α家族的孤儿受体）鉴定为MIC-1 / GDF15的受体，它通过共受体Ret发出信号。这些数据确定了一种新的系统性中枢神经系统（CNS）回路，该回路可调节压力以响应新陈代谢，并且可用于治疗严重的肥胖症和厌食症/恶病质综合症。