Receptor
The receptor for this chemokine is CXCR4, which was previously called LESTR or fusin. This CXCL12-CXCR4 interaction used to be considered exclusive (unlike for other chemokines and their receptors), but recently it was suggested that CXCL12 may also bind the CXCR7 receptor. The CXCR4 receptor is a G-Protein Coupled Receptor that can be bound by man-made proteins such as Granuloycte-Colony Stimulating Factors (G-CSFs). G-CSFs bind CXCR4 to prevent SDF-1 binding, which results in the inhibition of the pathway. Neutrophils in the bone marrow, for example, are bound by G-CSFs and are released into the bloodstream to help fight diseases or infections following chemotherapy treatment. Drugs like Neupogen (a therapeutic G-CSF) dislodge neutrophils in the bone marrow to help fight diseases resulting from neutropenia (often caused by chemotherapy treatments).
Read more about this topic: Stromal Cell-derived Factor-1
Famous quotes containing the word receptor:
“The disinterest [of my two great-aunts] in anything that had to do with high society was such that their sense of hearing ... put to rest its receptor organs and allowed them to suffer the true beginnings of atrophy.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)