Chemokines and allergic disease

Understanding the chemokine network has become one of the great challenges for researchers interested in inflammatory mechanisms and inflammation-base d diseases. The complexity and diversity of the system provide not only a d aunting task for its comprehension but also numerous opportunities for deve lopment of new, targeted therapies. It is now certain that chemokines are i nvolved as important mediators of allergic inflammation; the fine details a nd scope of their roles are now under investigation, Presumably, because of distinct pressures on the immune systems of people living in different geo graphic regions, genetic variation of ligands, receptors, and regulatory re gions in the network have emerged. Establishing the roles of these polymorp hisms in determining disease susceptibility or progression among individual s and in distinct ethnic groups will provide a basis for improved understan ding and treatment of allergic diseases.