Main description:

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.

Contents:

FUNDAMENTALS OF CHEMOKINES AND CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS Structural Aspects of Chemokines, and their Interactionss with Receptors and GAGs Structural Insights for Homology Modeling of Chemokine Receptors Signaling Events Involved in Chemokine-Directed T Lymphocyte Migration The Atypical Chemokine Receptors Targeting Chemokine Receptor Dimers: Are there Two (or More) to Tango? CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS IN DISEASE Chemokine Receptors in Inlammatory Diseases Chemokines and their Receptors in Central Nervous System Disease Chemokines and Cancer Metastasis Constitutively Active Viral Chemokine Receptors: Tools for Immune Subversion and Pathogenesis TARGETING CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS CCR5 Antagonists in HIV CXCR4 as therapeutic target Low-Molecular Weight CXCR2 Antagonists as Promising Therapeutics Therapeutic Targeting of the CXCR3 Receptors Targeting CCR1 Targeting CCR3 Chemokine-Binding Proteins as Therapeutics