REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1601756

This article is part of the Research TopicEnvironmental Influence on Tumor ImmunogenicityView all 4 articles

Chemokines: Humble yet Mighty Players in the Tumour Microenvironment

Provisionally accepted
Suboj BabykuttySuboj Babykutty1,2*HIMA XAVIERHIMA XAVIER1,2ATHIRA GIREESH G MATHIRA GIREESH G M1Juvin Ann ThomasJuvin Ann Thomas1Priya SubojPriya Suboj2,3Arya SArya S2,3Emmanuel BijuEmmanuel Biju1Arya BArya B1ROSHIN THOMAS DOMINICROSHIN THOMAS DOMINIC1
  • 1Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
  • 2Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), Kollam, Kerala, India
  • 3St. Xavier's College, Thumba, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, India

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Chemokines are tiny chemotactic cytokines which play a crucial role in pathophysiology by maintaining homeostasis and inflammation. Their role in the tumour microenvironment is very much puzzling because of both pro-and anti-tumourigenic effects. Chemokines have gained much attention today, since it has been recognized that they are game changers in the TME via controlling immune cell recruitment, angiogenesis, metastasis, tumour growth and drug resistance. In this review, we are exploring the role of several chemokines and its receptors in the TME with special focus on immune cell recruitment, immune surveillance, regulation of immune checkpoints and epithelial mesenchymal transition. We are also reviewing the possibility of targeting chemokines along with immunotherapy for better outcome and disease-free survival. A better understanding on the dual role of chemokine in the TME might help to implement novel therapeutic interventions and adopt precision in targeted therapy.

Keywords: tumour microenvironment, Chemokines, immune surveillance, Immunotherapy, Angiogenesis

Received: 28 Mar 2025; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Babykutty, XAVIER, GIREESH G M, Thomas, Suboj, S, Biju, B and THOMAS DOMINIC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Suboj Babykutty, Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum, Kerala, India

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material