Microbial corruption of the chemokine system: An expanding paradigm

• Published in: Seminars in immunology 1998-06, Vol.10 (3), p.169-178
• Main Authors: Pease, James E., Murphy, Philip M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AIDS/HIV; Animals; chemokine, HIV, AIDS, malaria, herpesvirus, poxvirus; Chemokines - immunology; Herpesviridae - immunology; Herpesviridae Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - immunology; Humans; Malaria - immunology; Plasmodium - immunology; Poxviridae - immunology; Poxviridae Infections - immunology; Receptors, Chemokine - immunology; Receptors, Virus - immunology; Signal Transduction - immunology
• ISSN: 1044-5323; 1096-3618
• DOI: 10.1006/smim.1998.0129

The chemokine signaling system includes more than 40 secreted pro-inflammatory peptides and 12 G protein-coupled receptors that together orchestrate specific leukocyte trafficking in the mammalian immune system, ideally for anti- microbial defense and tissue repair processes. Paradoxically and perversely, some chemokines and chemokine receptors are also promicrobial factors and facilitate infectious disease, the result of either exploitation or subversion by specific microbes. Two modes of exploitation are known: usage of cellular chemokine receptors for cell entry by intracellular pathogens, including HIV, and usage ofvirally-encodedchemokine receptors for host cell proliferation. Likewise, two modes of subversion are known: virally-encoded chemokineantagonistsand virally-encoded chemokinescavengers. Understanding how microbes turn the tables on the chemokine system may point to new methods to prevent or treat infection, or, more generally, to treat inappropriate chemokine-mediated inflammation.