CXCR3 ligands: Redundant, collaborative and antagonistic functions

Abstract

CXCR3 is a chemokine receptor that is rapidly induced on naïve T cells following activation, and preferentially remains highly expressed on type-1 helper (Th1)-type CD4+ T cells, effector CD8+ T cells and innate-type lymphocytes, such as natural killer (NK) and NKT cells. CXCR3 is activated by three interferon (IFN)-γ-inducible ligands CXCL9 (monokine induced by gamma-interferon), CXCL10 (interferon-induced protein-10) and CXCL11 (interferon-inducible T-cell alpha chemoattractant). Although some studies have revealed that these ligands have redundant functions in vivo, other studies have demonstrated that the three CXCR3 ligands can also collaborate and even compete with each other. Differen..