Relationship between chemokines and T lymphocytes in the context of respiratory allergies (Review)

Abstract

Allergic diseases have been classified in the last decades using various theories. The main classes of the newest classification in allergic respiratory diseases focus on the characterization of the endotype (which takes into account biomarkers related to determinant pathophysiological mechanisms) and of the phenotype (based on the description of the disease). Th2, Th1 and Th17 lymphocytes and the type of inflammatory response mediated by them represent the basis for Th2 and non-Th2 endotype classification. In addition, new lymphocytes were also used to characterize allergic diseases: Th9 lymphocytes, Th22 lymphocytes, T follicular helper cells (T_FH) lymphocytes and invariant natural killer T (iNKT) lymphocytes. In the last decade, a growing body of evidence focused on chemokines, chemoattractant cytokines, which seems to have an important contribution to the pathogenesis of this pathology. This review presents the interactions between chemokines and Th lymphocytes in the context of Th2/non-Th2 endotype classification of respiratory allergies.

Keywords: asthma; chemokines; endotypes; lymphocytes; respiratory allergies; rhinitis.

Figure 1

Interplay between chemokines and T cells. Th1, Th1 lymphocyte; Th2, Th2 lymphocyte; Th9, Th9 lymphocyte; Th17, Th17 lymphocyte; Treg, T regulatory lymphocytes; T_FH, T follicular helper cells; iNKT, invariant natural killer T; CCL, C-C motif ligand; CXCL, C-X-C-motif ligand; CCR, C-C receptor.