Role of chemokines in inflammation and immunoregulation

Chemokines are first noted for their ability to attract and activate leukocytes, as well as their potential role as mediators of inflammation. However, emerging data have shown that various chemokines may exert other biologic effects both inside and outside the immune system. Inducible chemokines participate primarily in inflammatory responses and comprise the bulk of the chemokine family. Constitutive chemokines are expressed primarily in secondary lymphoid organs and some nonlymphoid organs, where they play a major role in lymphocyte homing. Studies expanding to areas beyond inflammatory leukocyte recruitment will likely give us a more complete picture of chemokine function, its regulation in lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues, and ways of utilizing endogenous chemokines to intervene with immune and inflammatory reactions.