The chemokine system: novel broad-spectrum therapeutic targets.

Chemokines are cytokines that specifically direct the trafficking of immune cells in the body. They offer a novel point of therapeutic intervention, as inhibiting specific chemokines and receptors could prevent the excessive recruitment of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. This approach could be considered to act upstream of the therapies used today which, for the most part, act on the cells already at the site of inflammation. The receptors for chemokines are G-protein-coupled seven-transmembrane receptors, which are particularly tractable for the pharmaceutical industry. The search for small-molecule inhibitors of these receptors has been fruitful and the numbers of patents and, more recently, peer-reviewed publications are growing rapidly. The first clinical trial was initiated this year, so although it is too soon to be able to report these results we hope to see the outcome of this research in the near future.