[Chemokine Receptor-5 and Graft-versus-Host Disease]

Chemokine receptor-5 (CCR5) belongs to a G-protein coupled receptors superfamily. It is mainly expressed on a wide variety of immune cells. CCR5 can bind with its specific ligands, which plays very important roles in inflammatory cell growth, differentiation, activation, adhesion and migration. CCR5 was identified as a co-receptor for human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) to infect CD4+ T cells. In addition, CCR5 not only participates in the pathogenic mechanisms of many inflammation disease such as AIDS, auto-immune disease, and atherosclerosis, but also plays important roles in the development of acute graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Recent studies using murine models have demonstrated the critical role of CCR5 and its ligands which direct T-cell infiltration and recruitment into target tissues during acute GVHD. CCR5 has become the focus of intense interest and discussion, and this review will attempt to describe what is understood about the structure and function, internalization, signal transduction of CCR5, in order to investigate the relationship between CCR5 and acute GVHD.