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Chemokines, once thought to be functionally restricted to controlling cellular migration to sites of inflammation, have been recognized more recently to be involved in other biological functions such as hematopoiesis, angiogenesis and oncogenesis. Chemokines have established themselves as important regulators of the immune system through their actions on T, B and dendritic cell development. Of clinical interest is the important role that a number of chemokine receptors, such as CXCR4, CCR2, CCR3, CCR5, CCR8 and CX 3 CR1, play as co-receptors for human immunodeficiency viruses and that chemokine receptor ligands can act as inhibitors of the viral infection process. The field of chemokine research has benefited from available sequence databases for the rapid identification of numerous new molecules and this has generated an abundance of new information. A recently introduced chemokine nomenclature scheme is likely to remedy the confusion over the large number of names that are currently being used to identify chemokines and their receptors. This review is intended to summarize available chemokine receptor literature and highlight receptor expression patterns. As more biological functions are linked to specific chemokine/receptor pair interactions, this will shed more light onto pathologies that are likely to make use of chemokine-specific reagents as potential new diagnostic and therapeutic tools. |
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