Chemokines are a recently discovered family of small, soluble proteins, structurally-related to cytokines. They assume a range of important functions in the human body, mainly in relation to the immune system. Among other functions, chemokines are responsible for blood cell formation through stem cell growth and differentiation (See image below). In addition, chemokines participate in white blood cell mobilization and in the initiation of immune responses. They are produced and released by a wide variety of cell types.

In addition to their designated natural functions, chemokines have been found to play an important role in the physiological processes of a variety of prominent and critical diseases. There is a growing focus in the scientific community on chemokine involvement in cancer, both at the level of blood vessel generation and metastasis, in viral infections such as HIV and in autoimmune diseases, as evidenced by studies in an increasing number of research publications and articles.

The mechanism of chemokine action always involves initial binding to specific receptors on target cells, such as white blood cells. Over fifty different human chemokines and seventeen human cell receptors have so far been identified and described.