title: Chemokines, a family of chemotactic cytokines.
abstract: Chemokines are low-molecular-weight proteins that stimulate recruitment of leukocytes. They are secondary pro-inflammatory mediators that are induced by primary pro-inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-1 (IL-1) or tumor necrosis factor (TNF). The physiologic importance of this family of mediators is derived from their specificity. Unlike the classic leukocyte chemo-attractants, which have little specificity, members of the chemokine family induce recruitment of well-defined leukocyte subsets. Thus, chemokine expression can account for the presence of different types of leukocytes observed in various normal or pathologic states. There are two major chemokine sub-families based upon the position of cysteine residues, i.e., CXC and CC. All members of the CXC chemokine sub-family have an intervening amino acid between the first two cysteines; members of the CC chemokine sub-family have two adjacent cysteines. As a general rule (with some notable exceptions), members of the CXC chemokines are chemotactic for neutrophils, and CC chemokines are chemotactic for monocytes and a small sub-set of lymphocytes. This review discusses the potential role of chemokines in inflammation and focuses on the two best-characterized chemokines, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), a CC chemokine, and interleukin-8 (IL-8), a member of the CXC chemokine sub-family.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology and Oral Biology, Boston University School of Graduate Dentistry, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Graves
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000502:physiology; D018925:Chemokines / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; D003545:Cysteine; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000502:physiology; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000502:physiology; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000502:physiology; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000502:physiology; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000502:physiology; D009000:Monocytes / Q000502:physiology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000502:physiology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018932:Chemokine CCL2; D018925:Chemokines; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D007375:Interleukin-1; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D003545:Cysteine