CXCL12 and metabolic syndrome: In contrast to mainly negative associations of chemokine receptor expression with disease parameters, mostly positive associations were observed for the levels of chemokine ligands, including associations of CCL5 and CXCL11 with inflammatory markers (especially CRP), CCL2 and CXCL12 with TG, AST and ALT, and CXCL12 with FBG (Figure 6B and Supplementary Figure 2), linking inflammation with metabolic syndrome.