P2X receptors and inflammation.

Until recently, P2X receptors have not received much attention in the context of immunology and inflammation. While this is justified to a certain extent for P2X1, P2X2, P2X3, P2X5 and P2X6, which still await identification of a convincing role in the pathophysiology of immune cells, it is clearly not any more the case for P2X4 and even more so for P2X7, a molecule that has achieved the status of an essential, nonredundant, immunomodulatory receptor. In this review I will highlight the most important inflammatory responses participated by P2X receptors.