CC Chemokine Receptor Antibody Explorer Kit

Chemokines were first identified by their ability to mediate leukocyte chemoattraction.  Apart from regulating the migration of leukocytes, they seem to be major players during inflammation and immunity^1-3. Indeed, chemokines could also be further classified as being inflammatory as many chemokines are extensively upregulated in response to inflammation, or housekeeping important for the homeostasis of certain cell types. Inflammatory chemokines are responsible for recruiting immune cells to the inflamed region, and housekeeping chemokines, expressed in lymphoid or non-lymphoid tissues mediate the trafficking and targeting of cells^4,5.

In general, chemokines and their receptors guide leukocytes to sites of infection/inflammation. However, cases of chronic inflammatory disease and tissue damage occur when there is excessive recruitment of leukocytes. They could also be involved in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis and many inflammatory diseases like atherosclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. Recently, chemokines and their receptors have been found to be involved in cancer metastasis, namely breast cancer⁶. The chemokine signaling also seems to be important for the communication between neural cells and the immune system, especially in the context of infection.