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Chemokines in homeostasis and diseases

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 15, pages 324–334 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

For the past twenty years, chemokines have emerged as a family of critical mediators of cell migration during immune surveillance, development, inflammation and cancer progression. Chemokines bind to seven transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are expressed by a wide variety of cell types and cause conformational changes in trimeric G proteins that trigger the intracellular signaling pathways necessary for cell movement and activation. Although chemokines have evolved to benefit the host, inappropriate regulation or utilization of these small proteins may contribute to or even cause diseases. Therefore, understanding the role of chemokines and their GPCRs in the complex physiological and diseased microenvironment is important for the identification of novel therapeutic targets. This review introduces the functional array and signals of multiple chemokine GPCRs in guiding leukocyte trafficking as well as their roles in homeostasis, inflammation, immune responses and cancer.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms S Livingstone and Ms C Lamb for secretarial assistance. This project was funded in part by federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. HHSN261200800001E and was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NCI, NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer and Inflammation Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, 21702, Frederick, MD, USA

    Keqiang Chen, Zhiyao Bao, Peng Tang & Ji Ming Wang

  2. Department of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 200025, Shanghai, P. R. China

    Zhiyao Bao

  3. Department of Breast Surgery, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 400038, Chongqing, China

    Peng Tang

  4. Basic Research Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., 21702, Frederick, MD, USA

    Wanghua Gong

  5. Department of Pathology and Experimental Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, 700-8558, Okayama, Japan

    Teizo Yoshimura

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  1. Keqiang Chen
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Chen, K., Bao, Z., Tang, P. et al. Chemokines in homeostasis and diseases. Cell Mol Immunol 15, 324–334 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2017.134

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