Inclusion of ACKR5 in the systematic nomenclature of atypical chemokine receptors

A recent Review in this journal by Comerford and McColl1 discussed how atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs) have emerged as important regulators of chemokines, both in the immune system and beyond. Unlike classical chemokine receptors, ACKRs do not couple to G proteins and thus do not induce cell migration in response to chemokines. Instead, ACKRs regulate chemokine availability in defined tissue microenvironments through ligand sequestration, transport, internalization and delivery for degradation. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the systematic classification of ACKRs by the nomenclature committee of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR)2. Until recently, this subfamily comprised four receptors (ACKR1–ACKR4), but as discussed in the Review, additional molecules are being investigated as potential new members of the ACKR family. In October 2024, one of these molecules, GPR182, was officially recognized by the IUPHAR as ACKR5 (ref. 3) (Fig. 1).