Evasins: Biology and Therapeutic Potential of Broad-Spectrum Chemokine Inhibitors

Ticks are haematophagous parasites that rely on uninterrupted bloodmeals for survival and need an effective strategy to suppress the host inflammatory response. Leukocyte recruitment is a chemokine-mediated hallmark of inflammation, which ticks counteract via anti-chemokine proteins in their saliva named evasins. They are a heterogeneous family of glycoproteins that redundantly bind and inhibit chemokines. We provide a detailed overview of their chemokine-binding properties, as well as their therapeutic efficacy in models of inflammation in vivo. Moreover, we discuss the potential challenges posed by using evasins in a therapeutic setting and explore how the development of modified evasins might aid this.