Chemokines, receptors and virus infection
In this article in Microbiology Today, Edward Wright discusses the delicate balance which exists between host chemokines and receptors, and how these interactions show that host genetic factors play an important role in susceptibility to infections.
To elicit their effect on target cells, chemokines bind specific receptors on the cell surface. Attachment is a two-step process with the initial recognition and binding causing a conformational change in the chemokine before the final binding process can occur. As highlighted later, this twostep mechanism has been mimicked by some pathogens in order to hijack chemokine receptors as a point of cellular entry. While chemokines bind to different receptors, these are all anchored within the lipid bilayer and have seven transmembrane domains. As a result, four regions of the receptor are exposed to the extracellular environment that act in concert to bind the chemokine ligand. Once bound this stimulates a conformational change in the receptor, which itself causes the activation of a G-protein coupled to the intracellular domain of the receptor and a consequent signalling cascade ensues.
Tags: Biology, HIV/AIDS, Immunology, Medicine, Microbiology, Science, Virology
