ABSTRACT
Chemokines are a class of small chemotactic molecules with cytokine-like functions,
which are well known to orchestrate inflammatory responses within different organs.
Overall, more than 50 ligands and 19 receptors belong to the network. In recent years,
accumulating functional and genetic evidence suggests that chemokines play a critical
role in acute and chronic liver diseases, mediating the infiltration of immune cells
(monocytes, T-cells) into the injured liver along a concentration gradient. However,
chemokines can also directly affect the biology of liver resident cells, such as hepatic
stellate cells and hepatocytes during inflammatory and fibrogenic tissue responses.
Although the chemokine system has long been considered highly redundant, studies in
knockout animals have convincingly demonstrated that single chemokines and chemokine
receptors strongly affect the phenotype of toxic and inflammatory liver disease in
vivo. However, depending on the model, these effects can be harmful (proinflammatory,
profibrogenic) or beneficial (antifibrotic). This aspect of chemokine biology must
be understood before these molecules and their receptors are targeted for therapeutic
purposes. Here, we summarize current knowledge on the genetic and functional importance
of the chemokine network in injury and highlight their potential for intervening in
the inflammation and fibrosis that drives liver disease progression.
KEYWORDS
Chemokines - liver fibrosis - genetics - leukocyte recruitment - stellate cell activation
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Hermann E WasmuthM.D.
Medical Department III, University Hospital Aachen
Pauwelsstrasse 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany
Email: hwasmuth@ukaachen.de
Email: ctrautwein@ukaachen.de