Chemokines

How do you keep track of basic information on the proteins you work with? Where do you find details of their physicochemical properties, amino acid sequences, gene organization? Are you tired of scanning review articles, primary papers and databases to locate that elusive fact? The Academic Press FactsBook series will satisfy scientists and clinical researchers suffering from information overload. Each volume provides a catalog of the essential properties of families of molecules. Gene organization, amino acid sequences, physicochemical properties, and biological activity are presented using a common, easy-to-follow format. Taken together they compile everything you want to know about proteins but are too busy to look for. The Chemokine FactsBook contains more than 40 entries on chemokines, and chemokine receptors from human or other origin, including IL-8, MCP-1, C5-a, RANTES, Lymphotactin, and CC CKR-1. The text provides information on tissue sources, target cells, physicochemical properties, transcription factors, regulation of expression in disease, receptor-binding characteristics, gene structure and location, amino acid sequences, and accession numbers and references. Contains over 40 entries on chemokines and chemokine receptors from human or other origin, including: IL-8 MCP-1 C5-a RANTES Lymphotactin CC CKR-1 Entries provide information on: Tissue sources Target cells Physicochemical properties Transcription factors Regulation of expression Expression in disease Receptor-binding characteristics Gene structure and location Amino acid sequences Database accession numbers References

The acute inflammatory response is the body's first system of alarm signals that are directed toward containment and elimination of microbial invaders. Uncontrolled inflammation has emerged as a pathophysiologic basis for many widely occurring diseases in the general population that were not initially known to be linked to the inflammatory response, including cardiovascular disease, asthma, arthritis, and cancer. To better manage treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of these wide-ranging diseases, multidisciplinary research efforts are underway in both academic and industry settings. This book provides an introduction to the cell types, chemical mediators, and general mechanisms of the host's first response to invasion. World-class experts from institutions around the world have written chapters for this introductory text. The text is presented as an introductory springboard for graduate students, medical scientists, and researchers from other disciplines wishing to gain an appreciation and working knowledge of current cellular and molecular mechanisms fundamental to inflammation.

Chemokines are hormone-like signaling molecules secreted by cells to signal infection and guide the immune response. Following a decade of basic chemokine research, the pharmaceutical industry has now begun to exploit this crucial signaling pathway for the development of innovative drugs against AIDS, cancer, neural and autoimmune diseases. Here is the first reference focusing on these novel drug development opportunities. Opening with a general introduction on chemokine function and chemokine receptor biology, the second part covers the known implications of these signaling molecules in human diseases, such as cancer, neural disorders, and viral infection, including AIDS. The third part systematically surveys current drug development efforts at targeting individual chemokine receptors, as well as other chemokine interaction partners, including up-to-date reports from the pharmaceutical industry.

Over the last decade, cytokine research has emerged as one of the most exciting and critical fields for providing fundamental knowledge of normal and abnormal human development. Today, it is apparent that cytokines orchestrate growth from the early embryonic stage to maturity and are responsible for the normal function of virtually every organ system. Furthermore, virtually all disease states have been associated, at least in part, with cytokine aberrations. In this volume, the editors have brought together internationally known experts in the field of interleukin research to provide a comprehensive review of the biology of the interleukins and their role in both health and illness, while maintaining a balance between the basic science and clinical aspects. Cytokines: Interleukins and their Receptors should be of interest to a wide variety of researchers including clinical hematologists, oncologists, immunologists, in addition to medical and PhD students and researchers with an interest in cytokines.

Inflammation and Immunity in Depression: Basic Science and Clinical Applications is the first book to move beyond the established theory of cytokine-induced depression and explore the broader role the immune system plays in this devastating mood disorder. The book fully explores the most recent lines of research into this rapidly advancing field, including alterations of T-cells, the neurobiological implications of neuroinflammation and immune alterations for brain development and function, and the genetic components of neuroinflammation in depression, including the relationships between stress and inflammation that are revealing gene-environment interactions in the disorder. Combining contributions from researchers worldwide, this book provides the most comprehensive discussion available today on the involvement of the innate immune and adaptive immune systems in depressive disorder. Chapters span neuroscience, psychology, clinical applications and future directions, making this book an invaluable resource for advanced students, researchers and practitioners who need to understand the complex and varied role of inflammation and immune responses in depression. Synthesizes current knowledge of inflammation and immunity in depression, ranging from basic neuroscience research, to clinical applications in psychiatry Expands on the long-established theory of cytokine-induced depression to discuss broader involvement of the immune system Explores translational potential of targeting immune dysfunction for clinical interventions

Chemokines play an important role in recruiting inflammatory cells into tissues in response to infection and inflammation. They also play an important role in coordinating the movement of T-cells, B-cells and dentritic cells, necessary to generate an immune response (response to injury, allergens, antigens, invading microorganisms). They selectively attract leukocytes to inflammatory foci, inducing both cell migration and activation. They are involved in various diseases, like atherosclerosis, lung and skin inflammation, multiple sclerosis, or HIV. Volume 2 of this two-volume set discusses the pathophysiology of chemokines. It is divided into two parts: a) chemokines in animal disease models, and b) chemokines as drug targets. Together with volume 1, which discusses the immunobiology of chemokines, both volumes give a comprehensive overview of chemokine biology.

Dieses Fachbuch erläutert die molekularen Grundlagen von Entzündungen, spannt den Bogen zu Infektionskrankheiten und den Zusammenhang zwischen Entzündungen und chronischen Erkrankungen, behandelt abschließend den Heilungsprozess und zeigt Therapiemöglichkeiten.

This volume, new to The Receptors series, focuses on several areas, including the birth, maturation, and structure of Chemokines; Neutrophil, Dendritic, and Lymphocyte trafficking; and Chemokine Receptors in diseases such as AIDs and lung cancer. In particular the book contains cutting-edge information ranging from basic molecular and cellular mechanisms to physiological and pathological roles of chemokines.

This volume in the Current Topics in Membranes series discusses the biology of chemokines and their binding partners, chemokine receptors, in normal and disease-related states. Chemokines are small proteins that are important in normal immune responses. Recent research demonstrates a role for these proteins in a variety of diseases such as heart disease, allergy, asthma, and cancer. As a result of the discovery of this link to disease, the topic of chemokines and drugs that block their actions has become an intense are of study. This book presents the topics of chemokines, chemokine receptors, and related pathologies in an integrated manner that provides the reader with a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of these topics. Provides a comprehensive overview of the history, molecular biology, cell biology, pharmacology, physiology, and pathophysiology of chemokines and their receptors Each chapter discusses "future directions and unanswered questions" of chemokine biology Serves as a road map for future research

It is commonly acknowledged that the nervous system and the immune system, those most complex of networks, share attributes beyond their intricacy. Elements common to the two systems include memory, connectivity, flexibility and developmental selection of cellular composition by a rigorous process involving widespread programmed cell death. There is one salient difference: the cells of the immune system are predominantly in constant motion, while post-mitotic neurons and glia are largely fixed in place. Therefore, chemokines, initially characterized as leukocyte chemoattractants, have for the last one and one-half decades been intensely and productively studied in the contexts of inflammation, immunity and hematopoietic development. Only recently have the two fields, neurobiology and immunology, displayed mutual interests in chemokines. This convergence of the two tribes of investigators was catalyzed by the finding that SDF-1 (now known as CXCL12) and its receptor, CXCR4, exerted significant and similar functions in development of both nervous and immune systems. Indeed CXCL12 and CXCR4 were required, in an uncannily similar fashion, for retention of pre-B lymphocytes at sites of maturation in the bone marrow and of neuronal progenitors in the external granule cell layer of the developing cerebellum. Recent reports indicate that chemoattraction of cerebellar granule cells through CXCR4 can be suppressed by reverse signaling initiated by binding of soluble eph receptors to transmembrane ephrin B, thereby establishing a link between chemokine action and a cardinal patterning system of the developing nervous system. As may be anticipated when a dam breaks, a massive influx of correlative observations in the nervous and immune systems is likely to ensue. This volume represents the state of current knowledge. To this end, introductory material for both systems is provided. Basic and advanced 'chemokinology' are presented. The recipe for making a nervous system (both ingredients and instructions for preparation) is described, as are the roles of chemokines and their receptors in making an immune system. Given their importance and complexity, CXCL12/CXCR4 interactions are separately treated in varying contexts. The field of 'neurobiology of chemokines' has not lain fallow during the last ten years. During much of this time the principal focus has been on neuroinflammation. Linking the immune and nervous systems are explanations of the functions of chemokines and their receptors for resident brain macrophages, the microglia, the unique cerebrovascular endothelium and angiogenesis. Understanding human disease is the goal of much of this research. New discoveries are being made and reported at a gratifying rate. It is expected that this volume will promote the steady production and application of useful new knowledge in this developing field. It provides a unique single-source database for basic neurobiology highlighting the fundamental aspects of chemokines and discussing the relations of chemokine science to animal models and human disease.