Chemokine system: New inflammatory markers on the horizon

Chemokines and their receptors direct cell migration in homeostatic and inflamed conditions, thus they are major players in key events of immune-mediated disorders. Indeed, much evidence indicates a non-redundant role of the chemokine system in several human diseases, ranging from classical immune-mediated pathologies, such as autoimmune and allergic diseases and transplant rejection, to neoplastic and vascular diseases. Increasing emerging evidence suggests the possible role of chemokines as biomarkers for monitoring disease activity, predicting relapses, monitoring surgical and pharmacological therapy and for providing prognostic indications. Several methods are now available for the detection and measurement of chemokines and their receptors in body fluids and tissues. The advantage of these assays is that they may be used in clinical laboratory and are directly applicable for biomedical diagnosis, representing a powerful tool which could dramatically improve screening, diagnosis and monitoring of diseases in the very near future.