Downloaded from http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/ on September 28, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press The Chemokine System in Innate Immunity Caroline L. Sokol and Andrew D. Luster Center for Immunology & Inflammatory Diseases, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114 Correspondence:
[email protected] Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines that control the migration and positioning of immune cells in tissues and are critical for the function of the innate immune system. Chemokines control the release of innate immune cells from the bone marrow during homeostasis as well as in response to infection and inflammation. Theyalso recruit innate immune effectors out of the circulation and into the tissue where, in collaboration with other chemoattractants, they guide these cells to the very sites of tissue injury. Chemokine function is also critical for the positioning of innate immune sentinels in peripheral tissue and then, following innate immune activation, guiding these activated cells to the draining lymph node to initiate and imprint an adaptive immune response. In this review, we will highlight recent advances in understanding how chemokine function regulates the movement and positioning of innate immune cells at homeostasis and in response to acute inflammation, and then we will review how chemokine-mediated innate immune cell trafficking plays an essential role in linking the innate and adaptive immune responses. hemokines are chemotactic cytokines that with emphasis placed on its role in the innate Ccontrol cell migration and cell positioning immune system. throughout development, homeostasis, and in- flammation. The immune system, which is de- pendent on the coordinated migration of cells, CHEMOKINES AND CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS is particularly dependent on chemokines for its function.