Setting death in motion

摘要

Cell motion, an essential component of embryonic development, continues to be important throughout life. The immune system constantly patrols our bodies, checking for infectious pathogens then regrouping cells to attack at sites of invasion. This complex choreography is controlled by a range of chemokines (and chemokine receptors), which induce and guide the movement of cells along chemokine concentration gradients. But, as reported by Herbein et al. (on page 189 of this issue) and Hesselgesser et al. (in Current Biology), chemokines may also act as death signals. And subversion of such signals by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may participate in the development of disease.