Core tip: The chemokine network makes an attractive target for therapeutic intervention in many tumor types, including those of the gastrointestinal tract. However, we need to define more selective and specific targets, to minimize systemic side effects during treatment.
INTRODUCTION
Cancer development and progression in the gastrointestinal tractCancer is a disease in which normal cells acquire genetic and epigenetic abnormalities [1,2] , leading to disorientation of conventional processes for the maintenance of normal cell physiology. These aberrant genetic and epigenetic modifications to the normal cell induce abnormal cell motility, proliferation, and survival, eventually enabling these cells to invade into adjacent tissues and even to migrate to regional or distant organs where they may grow continuously as metastatic lesions [3] . For many cancer patients, metastasis is generally the major cause of disease-related death [4,5] . Therefore, it is indispensable to elucidate the basic molecular mechanisms of tumor development to identify effective therapeutic targets, which can possibly reduce the side-effects of treatment, and define useful molecular markers for early detection and prediction of disease course. Especially, the newly emerged concept of personalized medicine may require in-depth assessment of potential therapeutic molecular target(s) in each individual case through analysis of sig-
REVIEW
Chemokines, chemokine receptors and the gastrointestinal system
AbstractThe biological properties of tumor cells are known to be regulated by a multitude of cytokines and growth factors, which include epidermal growth factor receptor agonists and members of the transforming growth factor β family. Furthermore, the recent explosion of research in the field of chemokine function as mediators of tumor progression has led to the possibility that these small, immunomodulatory proteins also play key roles in carcinogenesis and may, therefore, be potential targets for novel therapeutic approaches. In this review, we will summarize recently reported findings in chemokine biology with a focus on the gastrointestinal tract.