Interfering with chemokine and chemokine receptors as new potential therapeutic strategies.

Chemokines are a large family of chemotactic proteins that direct migration of leukocytes within the different districts of the body in health and disease. The main function of chemokines is to attract leukocytes to inflammatory sites, but they are also crucially involved in stem cell recruitment, angiogenesis, tumor growth, transplant tolerance, autoimmunity and fibrogenesis. This is a review of the literature and patents on the therapeutic potential of chemokines. This article provides the basis of the biological functions of chemokines and an overview of the potential use of chemokines or chemokine-based approaches for the treatment of HIV infection, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, bronchial asthma and allergic diseases, atherosclerosis, psoriasis, cancer and transplant rejection.