Chemokine Receptors in Allergy, Inflammation, and Infectious Disease

Abstract

Chemokines play an important role in disease by virtue of their effects on immune cells. They mediate their biological effects by acting on G-proteincoupled receptors, which represent one of the most druggable classes of proteins. In this review we will examine the role of chemokines in autoimmunity and inflammation by concentrating on the part they play in the pathophysiology of several diseases including asthma, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. We will describe the various strategies that pharmaceutical companies have come up with to block the effect of chemokines in driving these disease processes and how they have fared in the clinic. We will also briefly discuss the repurposing of chemokine receptor antagonists in new indications.

Functional genetic encoding of sulfotyrosine in mammalian cells

“…The introduction of negatively charged sulfate groups plays a crucial role in extracellular biomolecular interactions that dictate various cellular processes, including cell adhesion, leukocyte trafficking, hormone activities, and immune responses [3][4][5]8 . Tyrosine-sulfated proteins (referred hereafter as sulfoproteins) are also involved in the development of various infectious diseases (e.g., AIDS and malaria), cancers, and immune-mediated diseases (e.g., allergy and rheumatoid arthritis) [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . Hence, PTS could emerge as an important therapeutic target for the treatment of human diseases.…”