Inflammation chemokines generating

Distance geometry is, at heart, a random technique. It is therefore usual to generate more than one conformation in order to try to explore the conformational space that is consistent with the experimentally derived distances. The resulting set of structures is often displayed as a superimposed set this enables the similarities and differences between the structures to be easily identified. For example, in Figxrre 9.18 (colour plate section) we show an ensemble of conformations of RANTES, a small protein called a chemokine that is impUcated in inflammation [Chung et al. 1995]. It is often found that some parts of the molecule adopt very similar conformations in all the structures whereas other regions show considerable variation. This is often interpreted as an indication of conformational flexibility, but it is important to remember that it may also indicate a lack of experimental data for those atoms. 

Chemokines were initially recognized as a family of small proteins induced by inflammation to attract inflammatory leukocytes. More recent evidence suggests that chemokines have a major role in the migration and recirculation of lymphocytes to and from different tissue compartments. This is required not only for the maturation and differentiation of immune cells, but also the generation of secondary lymphoid organs (2-4). Most mature T lymphocytes enter peripheral... 

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