Over the past decade, chemokines have emerged as important components participating in host defense following viral infection by attracting antigen-specific lymphocytes into the CNS to control and eliminate the invading pathogen. However, how chemokines regulate recruitment of myeloid cells to the CNS in response to viral infection has not been well characterized. Hosking et al. provide evidence that ELR-positive chemokines attract neutrophils to the CNS by signaling through the receptor CXCR2. Early expression of CXCL1 (green staining) by glial cells, including astrocytes (red staining), within the microvasculature support early neutrophil recruitment required for optimal host defense (see Hosking et al., doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000648).

Image Credit: Martin Hosking, University of California Irvine