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Biotech / Medical : Unquoted Biotechs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (144)	8/24/2006 11:16:27 AM
From: scaram(o)uche	Respond to of 253

Some will remember that ChemoCentryx was a Tularik collaborator.

To: nigel bates who wrote (144)	8/31/2006 3:39:04 PM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 253

J Exp Med. 2006 Aug 28; [Epub ahead of print] A novel chemokine receptor for SDF-1 and I-TAC involved in cell survival, cell adhesion, and tumor development. Burns JM, Summers BC, Wang Y, Melikian A, Berahovich R, Miao Z, Penfold ME, Sunshine MJ, Littman DR, Kuo CJ, Wei K, McMaster BE, Wright K, Howard MC, Schall TJ. ChemoCentryx, Inc., Mountain View, CA 94043. The chemokine stromal cell-derived factor (SDF-1; also known as chemokine ligand 12 [CXCL12]) regulates many essential biological processes, including cardiac and neuronal development, stem cell motility, neovascularization, angiogenesis, apoptosis, and tumorigenesis. It is generally believed that SDF-1 mediates these many disparate processes via a single cell surface receptor known as chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4). This paper characterizes an alternate receptor, CXCR7, which binds with high affinity to SDF-1 and to a second chemokine, interferon-inducible T cell alpha chemoattractant (I-TAC; also known as CXCL11). Membrane-associated CXCR7 is expressed on many tumor cell lines, on activated endothelial cells, and on fetal liver cells, but on few other cell types. Unlike many other chemokine receptors, ligand activation of CXCR7 does not cause Ca(2+) mobilization or cell migration. However, expression of CXCR7 provides cells with a growth and survival advantage and increased adhesion properties. Consistent with a role for CXCR7 in cell survival and adhesion, a specific, high affinity small molecule antagonist to CXCR7 impedes in vivo tumor growth in animal models, validating this new receptor as a target for development of novel cancer therapeutics.