Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 3 (MCP3)

Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 7 (CCL7) is a small cytokine known as a chemokine that was previously called monocyte-specific chemokine 3 (MCP3). Due to CCL7 possessing two adjacent N-terminal cysteine residues in its mature protein, it is classified among the subfamily of chemokines known as CC chemokines.

The protein is an in vivo substrate of matrix metalloproteinase 2, an enzyme which degrades components of the extracellular matrix. CCL7 is one of the most pluripotent chemokines, produced by certain tumor cell lines and by macrophages and acting on multiple cell types including monocytes, lymphocytes, eosinophils, basophils, dendritic cells, and natural killer cells.