MIF and diffuse scleroderma: MIF is a proinflammatory and profibrotic cytokine that has been shown to be increased in several chronic lung diseases including IPF, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and asthma and in fibrotic disorders including skin fibrosis of patients with both limited systemic sclerosis (lSSc) and diffuse systemic sclerosis (dSSc), as well as renal and cardiac fibrosis (35, 53, 54).