Chemokines are a superfamily of chemoattractant proteins originally identified as key mediators of leukocyte trafficking. These proteins have been linked to a wide variety of acute and chronic inflammatory processes and more recently, cancer and infectious disease. Several chemokine receptors are now known to serve as essential co-receptors for HIV infection. The list of chemokines and chemokine receptors continues to grow largely through to the application of genomics technologies. In vitro and in vivo models are providing valuable insights into the function of these chemokines in normal cellular processes and their involvement in disease. Molecular approaches have provided information on chemokine structure-function, mechanisms of signal transduction and transcriptional regulation. Efforts in the pharmaceutical sector are producing inhibitors of chemokine function.
The aim of this meeting is to bring together an international group of experts to discuss recent advances in the biology of chemokines and their role in human disease.
