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Inflammatory cytokines are a family of molecules that coordinate inflammatory and immune responses. One important class of inflammatory cytokines are the chemokines (for CHEMOtactic cytoKINES). Chemokines are a large group of proteins that play a central role in regulating the migration of leukocytes More than 50 chemokines have been shown to be expressed in mammals, and they produce all of their known effects by activating a family of G-protein-coupled receptors. Because of their central role in coordinating inflammatory responses, chemokines and their receptors have been investigated as novel therapeutic targets for anti-inflammatory drug action. Furthermore, the chemokine receptors CXCR4 and CCR5 have been shown to be the cellular receptors mediating HIV-1 infectivity, indicating that chemokine signaling also has a major role to play in HIV-1 pathogenesis.
Miller et al. (Wed,) studied this question.