The chemokine receptor and its ligands in humans have been identified as potential targets to develop new treatments for asthma. CCR1 or C-C chemokine receptor type 1 is a protein that mediates signal transduction for the recruitment of effector immune cells to the site of inflammation. New research by Prof. Shen Huahao and Prof. Ying Songmin at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and Prof. Zhang Yan at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, has found that the vital role of the chemokine receptor and its ligands in CCR1 activation in inflammation and inhibiting the same could lay a solid foundation for the development of more effective drugs to treat asthma. The researchers said that while they have found concrete evidence for the vital key of CCR1 activation in inflammation, further research is needed to find a feasible way to inhibit it. Their study report, published in Nature Chemical Biology, concludes that further research based on this finding can gain a perspicacious understanding of the interaction between CCR1 and its ligands so as to unravel its inflammation-triggering mechanism and the development of structure-oriented small-molecule drugs targeting CCR1 for treating asthma.