Chemokines and renal disease

Leukocyte recruitment has been recognized as an early event in inflammatory processes since the late 19th century. Accumulation and trafficking of leu kocytes in tissue under physiological and pathological conditions are order ly (typically neutrophils precede mononuclear cells) and selective in that in certain states, one leukocyte subset is recruited preferentially (e.g. e osinophils in allergy). The ability to recruit specific populations of leuk ocytes during inflammation is determined by a family of cytokines called "c hemokines". The characterization of this family has emerged within the past years, yet chemokines have already been the subject of thousands of scient ific reports and promise to have many clinical applications. They represent a potentially prime target for the development of novel therapeutic strate gies. Chemokine antagonists my represent a feasible strategy for the future and remain the Holy Grail. As recently as 2 or 3 years ago, a chemokine re view would have focused on the importance of chemotactic factors in control ling leukocyte function and trafficking. However, chemokines have been espe cially in the limelight since 1995, when it was discovered that some of the ir receptors act as binding sites for the HN strains and are essential for infection and progression of disease. We know now that chemokines and their receptors are expressed by a wide variety of non-hematopoietic cells and t hat chemokine function extends beyond leukocyte physiology.