BACKGROUND Chemokine receptors play an important role in cell migration and wound repair. In asthma, CCR3 and 7 are expressed by airway smooth muscle (ASM) and CCR7 has been implicated in the development of ASM hyperplasia. The expression profile of other chemokine receptors by ASM and their function needs to be further explored. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate ASM chemokine receptor expre...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The C-X-C chemokine receptors 3 (CXCR3) and C-X-C chemokine receptors 4 (CXCR4) are involved in various autoimmune diseases and cancers. Small antagonists have previously been shown to cross-inhibit chemokine binding to CXCR4, CC chemokine receptors 2 (CCR2) and 5 (CCR5) heteromers. We investigated whether CXCR3 and CXCR4 can form heteromeric complexes and the binding cha...

Obesity is characterized as an accumulation of adipose tissue mass represented by chronic, low-grade inflammation. Obesity-derived inflammation involves chemokines as important regulators contributing to the pathophysiology of obesity-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers. The obesity-driven chemokine network is poorly understood. Here, we identified the pro...

Staphylococcal superantigens (SAgs) are very potent T cell mitogens, but they can also activate monocytes by binding directly to MHC class II molecules in a manner independent of TCR coengagement. Induction of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokine expression in monocytes by superantigens has recently been reported. Here we report that superantigen stimulation of human peripheral blood monocyt...

Chemokines belong to a large family of inflammatory cytokines responsible for migration and accumulation of leukocytes at inflammatory sites. Over the past decade, accumulating evidence indicated a crucial role for chemokines and chemokine receptors in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the synovial tissue is heavily infiltrated by leuk...

Chemokine receptors belong to the transmembrane G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) family. Although a major physiological role of chemokine receptors is for host defense by recruitment of lymphocytes to inflammatory sites, they are now found to be involved in more processes such as virus infection, tumor genesis and metastasis, and embryologic development. In this review, we show an overall pict...

We observed two patterns of chemokine expression in the lungs of mice infected with murine gammaherpesvirus 68: peaks of chemokine expression correlated with or occurred after the peak of viral gene expression. Chemokine expression remained elevated through 29 days postinfection.