Chemokines and their receptors in esophageal cancer—the systematic review and future perspectives

Abstract

Esophageal cancer (EC) is an aggressive malignant solid tumor with rapid progression and unfavorable prognosis. The 5-year survival rate for EC patients was estimated to be less than 10 %. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve diagnostic tool and effective treatment therapies for EC patients. In our paper, the general structure and function of chemokines and their receptors as well as their role in cancer progression were shortly presented. Moreover, the aim of our paper was to summarize and refer the current findings concerning the role of selected chemokines and their receptors as candidates for tumor markers of EC. Some clinical investigations have proved the involvement of these proteins in proliferation, migration, invasiveness and metastasis of tumor cells. Increasing evidence from previous studies suggested that C-X-C motif chemokine 12 (CXCL12), also known as stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) and its receptor CXCR4 may provide novel diagnostic and prognostic strategies to reduce the burden of EC. Moreover, therapy targeting the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis may open a new direction for treatment of EC patients. However, given their nonspecific nature, the diagnostic value of chemokines and their receptors may be limited. Therefore, future larger investigations, especially in the blood of EC patients, still need to be continued to further clarify the significance of these proteins as potential candidates for tumor markers in diagnosis and prognosis of EC patients.

CXCL5 promotes the proliferation and migration of glioma cells in autocrine- and paracrine-dependent manners

“…In recent years, chemokines have been found to be involved in different cellular biological processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and migration (8)(9)(10). Moreover, they are also found to be deregulated in various human types of cancer (11,12). For instance, CXCL12, an important chemokine, has been found to be highly expressed in lung cancer tissues and is associated with lung metastasis (13).…”

The Serum Concentrations of Chemokine CXCL12 and Its Specific Receptor CXCR4 in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

“…The main significance of chemokines and their receptors in tumor development is facilitating the invasion and metastasis of malignant cells, including adherence, proliferation, extravasation from blood vessels, angiogenesis, and protection from the host response [ 1 – 5 ]. Some authors suggested the potential role of selected chemokines and/or their receptors in the development of various types of tumors, including EC [ 15 – 19 ]. These neoplasms are characterized by poor prognosis of patients' survival.…”

“…Therefore, there is increasing evidence that CXCL12 and its specific receptor CXCR4 play an important role in many steps of tumor progression, such as invasion, migration, and proliferation of malignant cells. Some authors indicated that CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 were expressed in EC tissue and significantly correlated with invasion, angiogenesis, lymph node, and metastasis as well as prognosis of EC patients' survival [ 15 – 19 ]. However, according to our knowledge, our present study is the first to assess the serum concentrations of chemokine CXCL12 in relation to its specific receptor CXCR4 and classical tumor markers for EC (CEA and SCC-Ag) as well as marker of inflammatory states—C-reactive protein (CRP).…”

Correlation between CXCR4, CXCR5 and CCR7 expression and survival outcomes in patients with clinical T1N0M0 non‐small cell lung cancer

“…[11][12][13] Many kinds of chemokine ligands and receptors have been reported to be overexpressed in different types of tumors. [14][15][16][17][18][19] Emerging evidence revealed that elevated expression levels of CXCR4, CXCR5 and CCR7 were relevant to tumorigenesis, cell growth, survival, and sitespecific metastasis. [20][21][22][23][24][25] CXCR4, also known as CD184 or fusin, is a specific chemokine receptor for CXCL12.…”