Based on our data, apyrase treatment might render monocytic cells non-responsive to the small, but substantially elevated, concentrations of plasma CCL2, as detected in sepsis (Bossink et al., 1995), sarcoidosis (Hashimoto et al., 1998), subclinical atherosclerosis (Deo et al., 2004) and type II diabetes (Piemonti et al., 2009). The gene discussed is CCL2; the disease is Sepsis.