Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 13 (CCL13) is a small cytokine belonging to the CC chemokine family.The chemokines are secreted proteins involved in immunoregulatory and inflammatory processes. Naruse et al. (1996) identified on chromosome 17q11.2 a cluster of chemokines from the CC family (characterized by a cys-cys sequence motif) and distinguished from a second chemokine family that features a cys-xxx-cys (CXC) motif . They mapped 1 gene of the CC family (called NCC1 by them) to the cluster using a panel of somatic cell hybrids with known deletions. NCC1 was originally characterized as an expressed sequence tag (EST). The deduced order of genes from a YAC contig assembled for the region is cen--NF1--MCP3, MCP1, NCC1, I-309--Y1741 breakpoint--RANTES--LD78-gamma, AT744.2 , LD78-beta --NCC3, NCC2, AT744.1 ), LD78-alpha--NCC4--RARA --tel.