Expression of Chemokines and their Receptors in the CNS

Chemokine expression in the CNS by brain-specific cells was first described almost 20 years ago (for examples, see [20, 21). These results were obtained in an animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS), showing for the first time a disease-associated increase in chemokine expression by distinct subsets of brain cells [20, 22]. In the mean time, many in vitro and in vivo studies on functional expression of chemokines and their receptors in the CNS have been pubhshed. Chemokines are now discussed to be part of the repertoire of signaling molecules in the brain, with numerous functions in development, physiology and pathology of the CNS, not only in rodents but also in humans [7, 23-26]. 

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