Chemokine biology

Balkwill F. Chemokine biology in cancer. Semin Immunol 2003 15(1) 49—55. 

The discovery of novel chemokines essentially occurred in three waves. First of all, many chemokines were purified from cell culture media, or leukocyte exudates. These were the first chemokines to be identified, and include the two mainstays of chemokine biology, Interleukin-8 (IL-8) and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1). It is interesting that chemokines could indeed be purified in this way, compared with other cytokines, which have tended to be identified initially as cDNAs. One of the reasons that chemokines... 

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) produced through the technique of somatic cell fusion are fundamental tools in the exploration of chemokine biology. This chapter details the procedures that were used to generate a panel of MAbs directed against the human chemokine RANTES (1,2). The general approach described here should be broadly applicable to the generation of MAbs directed against other members of this cytokine family. 

Gerard, C. (1999). In Chemokines in Disease (ed C. A. Hebert), Understanding chemokine biology through mouse genetics riddles and answers, pp. 41-52. Humana, Totowa, NJ. 

Chemokine Biology Laboratory, The School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia... 

Genetic Models to Study Chemokine Biology in the Lung... 

Disruption of either chemokine-receptor or chemokine-GAG complex formation might inhibit chemokine biological activity. It was of interest to determine whether the binding of CC chemokines by vCKBP-2 precluded their interaction with cellular receptors, GAGs or both. 

An interesting question derived from these studies is why viruses utilize different strategies to modulate chemokine activity. While vCKBPs have been identified mainly in poxviruses, herpesviruses frequently encode vCKs and vCKRs. This may reflect the need to modulate different aspects of chemokine biology as a result of diverse viral replication mechanisms. 

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