ABSTRACT
@#[Abstract] Chemokines are small secreted proteins produced by cancer and stromal cells. Chemokine receptors are also expressed on the surface of tumor cells and stromal cells. Chemokines bind to their homologous receptors to regulate tumor growth directly and indirectly, including direct regulation of tumor proliferation and metastasis by activating signal pathway, indirect regulation of tumor through acting on vascular endothelial cells and regulating immune response by coordinating the migration and localization of immune cells in tissues. Chemokines can be divided into four categories: CXC, CC, CX3C and C, among which CXC and CC are the most studied subtypes. In view of the fact that CXC chemokines and their receptors play a wide range of roles in malignant tumors and are closely related to the immune system, they are expected to become potential therapeutic targets, to improve tumor immune response by combining with immune checkpoint inhibitors to act in tumor microenvironment (TME). This paper reviews the research progress on chemokine/chemokine receptor axis of CXC subtypes, including the basic biological characteristics of tumor-promoting axis CXCR2/CXCLs, CXCR4/CXCL12 and tumor-suppressing axis CXCR3/CXCL9-11, their direct effect on tumor, indirect effect on TME, targeted therapy and prognostic significance of the receptors and ligands contained in these three axes.