Review on “Anticancer opportunities at every stage of chemokine function” is featured on the cover of TIPS
Last November, Dr. Natalia Ortiz, Martijn Bemelmans (MSc), and Prof. Laura Heitman published a review in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences (TIPS) on targeting the chemokine system in cancer (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2021.08.001). The review was written in collaboration with Prof. Tracy Handel from the University of California San Diego, and Prof. Karin de Visser from the Netherlands Cancer Institute.
In this paper, the authors reviewed the growing approaches to manipulate the so-called chemokine system in cancer, as this system has recently emerged as a relevant target in immune-oncology. However, the chemokine system is quite complex, and it is possible to target it at different levels: chemokines, chemokine receptors, or glycosaminoglycans. Thus, the authors discuss the different anticancer strategies currently available to interfere with the availability of chemokines, to manipulate chemokine interactions with glycosaminoglycans, and to modulate chemokine receptors. The review shows that the pharmacological toolbox to manipulate this system in cancer is vast and continues to grow, which provides ample opportunities for the design of novel anticancer drugs aimed at this system. Of note, this review was also featured on the cover of the same journal, in its issue of November, with artwork designed by the authors.
