CC chemokine receptor (CCR)4, a high affinity receptor for the CC chemokines thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) and macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC), is expressed in the thymus and spleen, and also by peripheral blood T cells, macrophages, platelets, and basophils. Recent studies have shown that CCR4 is the major chemokine receptor expressed by T helper type 2 (Th2) polarized cells. To study the in vivo role of CCR4, we have generated CCR4-deficient (CCR4−/−) mice by gene targeting. CCR4−/− mice developed normally. Splenocytes and thymocytes isolated from the CCR4−/− mice failed to respond to the CCR4 ligands TARC and MDC, as expected, but also surprisingly did not undergo chemotaxis in vitro in response to macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α. The CCR4 deletion had no effect on Th2 differentiation in vitro or in a Th2-dependent model of allergic airway inflammation. However, CCR4−/− mice exhibited significantly decreased mortality on administration of high or low dose bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) compared with CCR4+/+ mice. After high dose LPS treatment, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin 1β, and MIP-1α were reduced in CCR4−/− mice, and decreased expression of MDC and MIP-2 mRNA was detected in peritoneal exudate cells. Analysis of peritoneal lavage cells from CCR4−/− mice by flow cytometry also revealed a significant decrease in the F4/80+ cell population. This may reflect a defect in the ability of the CCR4−/− macrophages to be retained in the peritoneal cavity. Taken together, our data reveal an unexpected role for CCR4 in the inflammatory response leading to LPS-induced lethality.

Dendritic cells are potent antigen-presenting cells involved in the initiation of immune responses. The trafficking of these cells to tissues and lymph nodes is mediated by members of the chemokine family. Recently, a novel CC chemokine known as MIP-3α or liver and activation-regulated chemokine has been identified from the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ expressed sequence tag database. In the present study, we have shown that the messenger RNA for MIP-3α is expressed predominantly in inflamed and mucosal tissues. MIP-3α produced either synthetically or by human embryonic kidney 293 cells is chemotactic for CD34+-derived dendritic cells and T cells, but is inactive on monocytes and neutrophils. MIP-3α was unable to displace the binding of specific CC or CXC chemokines to stable cell lines expressing their respective high affinity receptors, namely CCR1–5 and CXCR1 and CXCR2, suggesting that MIP-3α acts through a novel CC chemokine receptor. Therefore, we used degenerate oligonucleotide-based reverse transcriptase PCR to identify candidate MIP-3α receptors in lung dendritic cells. Our results show that the orphan receptor known as GCY-4, CKRL-3, or STRL-22 is a specific receptor for MIP-3α, and that its activation leads to pertussis toxin–sensitive and phospholipase C–dependent intracellular Ca2+ mobilization when it is expressed in HEK 293 cells.

We report the cloning and characterization of a novel basophil CC chemokin receptor, K5-5, from the human immature basophilic cell line KU-812. The predicted protein sequence of K5-5 shows only 49% identity to the macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha/RANTES receptor (CC CKR-1) and 47% identity to monocyte chemotactic protein-1 receptor (b form), suggesting that this cDNA encodes a novel member of the CC chemokine receptor family. Analysis of K5-5 mRNA expression indicates that it is restricted to leukocyte-rich tissues. In addition, we have shown significant levels of K5-5 mRNA in human basophils, which were up-regulated by treatment with interleukin-5. The CC chemokines, Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha, RANTES, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 were able to stimulate a Ca(2+)-activated chloride channel in Xenopus laevis oocytes injected with K5-5 cRNA, whereas no signal was detected in response to monocyte chemotactic protein-2, macrophage inflammatory protein-1 beta, or the CXC chemokine, interleukin-8. Taken together, these results indicate for the first time the presence of a CC chemokine receptor on basophils, which functions as a "shared" CC chemokine receptor and may therefore be implicated in the pathogenesis of basophil-mediated allergic diseases.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry is governed by the interaction of the viral envelope glycoprotein (Env) with its receptor. The HIV-1 receptor is composed of two molecules, the CD4 binding receptor and a coreceptor. The seven-membrane-spanning chemokine receptor CCR-5 is one of the coreceptors used by primary isolates of HIV-1. We demonstrate that the mouse homolog of CCR-5 (mCCR-5) does not function as an HIV-1 coreceptor. A set of chimeras of human CCR-5 and mCCR-5 was studied for Env-induced cell fusion and HIV-1 infection. Using the HIV-1 ADA envelope glycoprotein in a syncytium formation assay, we show that replacement of any fragment containing extracellular domains of mCCR-5 by its human counterparts is sufficient to allow Env-induced fusion. Conversely, replacement of any fragment containing human extracellular domains by its murine counterpart did not lead to coreceptor function loss. These results show that several domains of CCR-5 participate in coreceptor function. In addition, using a panel of primary nonsyncytium-inducing and syncytium-inducing isolates that use CCR-5 or both CXCR-4 and CCR-5 as coreceptors, we show that the latter dual-tropic isolates are less tolerant to changes in CCR-5 than strains with a more restricted coreceptor use. Thus, different strains are likely to have different ways of interacting with the CCR-5 coreceptor.