Available online 9 December 2021

1. Chemokines participate in leukocyte recruitment among other biological functions.

2. Chemokines have a clear impact on intestinal inflammation in preclinical animal models.

3. Chemokine inhibitors and neutralising antibodies are being tested in IBD patients.

Despite the benefits of current therapeutic options for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), there are still patients who are refractory to these therapies. Moreover, the relapses caused by incomplete intestinal mucosa healing are frequent. Therefore, there is a need for novel pharmacological targets that can improve the existing IBD therapeutic armamentarium. Chemokine and chemokine receptors have emerged as appealing options to this end. As well as controlling leukocyte trafficking to inflamed tissues, these proteins regulate many other processes related to the development of intestinal inflammation. In this review, we summarise the most recent preclinical studies, along with the putative application of chemokine-based therapies in patients with IBD.

chemokines

intestinal inflammation

leukocyte trafficking

resolution of inflammation

epithelial barrier

© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.