Microbial corruption of the chemokine system: an expanding paradigm

The chemokine signaling system includes more than 40 secreted pro-inflammatory peptides and 12 G protein-coupled receptors that together orchestrate specific leukocyte trafficking in the mammalian immune system, ideally for anti- microbial defense and tissue repair processes. Paradoxically and perversely, some chemokines and chemokine receptors are also promicrobial factors and facilitate infectious disease, the result of either exploitation or subversion by specific microbes. Two modes of exploitation are known: usage of cellular chemokine receptors for cell entry by intracellular pathogens, including HIV, and usage of virally-encoded chemokine receptors for host cell proliferation. Likewise, two modes of subversion are known: virally-encoded chemokine antagonists and virally-encoded chemokine scavengers. Understanding how microbes turn the tables on the chemokine system may point to new methods to prevent or treat infection, or, more generally, to treat inappropriate chemokine-mediated inflammation.