Apostolakis Stavros, Papadakis Emmanouil G, Krambovitis Elias, Spandidos Demetrios A
Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Crete, Greece.
Int J Mol Med. 2006 May;17(5):691-701.
Clinical complications of atherosclerosis are major causes of morbidity and mortality in Western societies. Recent evidence suggests that formation of atherosclerotic lesions is an inflammatory process involving multiple molecular pathways. Chemokine-mediated mechanisms are potent regulators of such processes by orchestrating the interactions of inflammatory cellular components of the peripheral blood with cellular components of the arterial wall. The increasing evidence supporting the role of chemokine-pathways in atherosclerosis renders chemokine ligands and their receptors potential therapeutic targets. In the following review, we intend to highlight the special structural and functional features of each chemokine sub-family in respect to their role in atherosclerosis and discuss to what extent such knowledge could be applied in diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic practices.
动脉粥样硬化的临床并发症是西方社会发病和死亡的主要原因。最近的证据表明，动脉粥样硬化病变的形成是一个涉及多个分子途径的炎症过程。趋化因子介导的机制通过协调外周血炎症细胞成分与动脉壁细胞成分之间的相互作用，有力地调节着这些过程。越来越多的证据支持趋化因子途径在动脉粥样硬化中的作用，这使得趋化因子配体及其受体成为潜在的治疗靶点。在接下来的综述中，我们旨在强调每个趋化因子亚家族在动脉粥样硬化中的作用方面的特殊结构和功能特征，并讨论这些知识在诊断、预后或治疗实践中的应用程度。
