Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 1999 Feb;5(1):32-41.
doi: 10.3109/13550289909029743.

Chemokines/chemokine receptors in the central nervous system and Alzheimer's disease

M Q Xia  1 , B T Hyman
Affiliations
Review

Chemokines/chemokine receptors in the central nervous system and Alzheimer's disease

M Q Xia et al. J Neurovirol. 1999 Feb.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly, and the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Its pathological changes include amyloid beta deposits, neurofibrillary tangles and a variety of 'inflammatory' phenomenon such as activation of microglia and astrocytes. The pathological significance of inflammatory responses elicited by resident central nervous system (CNS) cells has drawn considerable attention in recent years. Chemokines belongs to a rapidly expanding family of cytokines, the primary function of which is control of the correct positioning of cells in tissues and recruitment of leukocytes to the site of inflammation. Study of this very important class of inflammatory cytokines may greatly help our understanding of inflammation in the progress of AD, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases. So far, immunoreactivity for a number of chemokines (including IL-8, IP-10, MIP-1beta, MIPalpha and MCP-1) and chemokine receptors (including CXCR2, CXCR3, CXCR4, CCR3, CCR5 and Duffy antigen) have been demonstrated in resident cells of the CNS, and upregulation of some of the chemokines and receptors are found associated with AD pathological changes. In this review, we summarize findings regarding the expression of chemokines and their receptors by CNS cells under physiological and pathological conditions. Although little is known about the potential pathophysiological roles of chemokines in CNS, we have put forward hypotheses on how chemokines may be involved in AD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources