In a mouse model of experimental ischaemia-reperfusion injury, renal tubular injury was more severe in MIF, MIF-2 and CD74 knockout mice than in wild-type control mice(Ochi et al., 2017), and the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can cause renal inflammation known as lupus nephritis (Almaani et al. 2017). The gene discussed is MIF; the disease is lupus nephritis.