Chemoattractant for blood monocytes, memory T-helper cells and eosinophils. Causes the release of histamine from basophils and activates eosinophils. (www.uniprot.org) Recombinant mouse Rantes produced in E.coli is a single, non-glycosylated polypeptide chain containing 68 amino acids and having a molecular mass of 7876 Dalton. Regulated upon Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed, and Secreted or RANTES is an 8 kDa protein classified as a chemotactic cytokine or chemokine. It has recently been renamed CCL5. RANTES is chemotactic for T cells, eosinophils and basophils and plays an active role in recruiting leukocytes into inflammatory sites. With the help of particular cytokines (i.e. IL-2 and IFN-gamma) that are released by T cells, RANTES also induces the proliferation and activation of certain natural killer (NK) cells to form CHAK (CC-Chemokine-activated killer) cells. It is also a HIV-suppressive factor released from CD8 T cells. This chemokine has been localized to chromosome 17 in humans.