Non-redundant functional groups of chemokines operate in a coordinate manner during the inflammatory response in the lung.

The understanding of the relative contribution of particular chemokines to the selective accumulation of leukocyte subsets to an organ site during an inflammatory response is made difficult by the simultaneous presence of multiple chemokines with partially overlapping functions at the inflammatory site. The study of several chemokine pathways (expression and function) during the development of a mouse model of allergic airway disease (AAD) has revealed differential expression regulation with distinct cellular sources for individual chemokines with functional bias for the recruitment/localization of regulatory and/or effector leukocyte subsets. In the present review, we propose that distinct functional groups of chemokines co-operate to generate the complete inflammatory response in the lung during AAD. We will also extend these concepts to the specific recruitment of a key cellular subset such as T helper type 2 (Th2) lymphocytes. We propose that the long term recruitment of antigen-specific Th2 cells to target organs, such as airways during chronic lung inflammation, is the result the sequential involvement of several chemotactic axes. Specifically, the CCR3/eotaxin and the CCR4/MDC pathway act in a coordinated co-operative manner, with the CCR3/eotaxin pathway being critical in the acute/early stages of a response, followed by the CCR4/MDC pathway, which ultimately dominates in the recruitment of antigen-specific Th2 cells. Other chemokines/receptors participate in this process possibly by amplifying/priming the Th2 recruitment response.