Atypical chemokine receptors in inflammatory disease

There is considerable interest in the therapeutic utility of inhibiting cellular trafficking in a variety of inflammatory diseases. Approaches including inhibition of adhesion molecule function and in particular of chemokine effector function have met with high levels of success in many models of disease but have been of less value in application to clinical disease states. Although this may in part be explained by pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic issues surrounding therapeutic agents tried thus far, it is also likely that functional redundancy in the chemokine network may pose significant problems for achieving potent inflammation suppression. The atypical chemokine receptors comprise a novel group of receptors capable of binding to several chemokine activities and to inhibiting their function. This review will describe the basic biology of such receptors and speculate on their potential as therapeutic agents moving forward.