Rat CCL7, belonging to the CC chemokine family, is also named as MCP-3, because the sequence comparison suggested that the rat CCL7 is a homologue of the human MCP-3 and is postulated the rat MCP-3. The MCP-3 protein family signals through CCR2 expect MCP-1 and possess cross-reacts across species. CCL7/MCP3 has chemotactic functions for monocytes and eosinophils, but not for neutrophils. Additionally, it can activated NK cells as well as CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. CCL7 was found to interact with MMP2.