CCL5 chemokine breast cancer

The causative roles attributed to CCL5 in breast cancer motivated the search for better identification of its modes of action in this disease. First, it is possible that the chemokine acts directly on the cancer cells to promote their ability to exert promalignancy properties. Such an activity of the chemokine necessitates the expression of the corresponding receptors for CCL5 by the tumor cells. Indeed, CCL5 was found to bind to breast tumor cells, and CCR5 and CCR1 receptors were detected in breast tumor cells in culture and/or in biopsies of breast cancer patients ([39 41,43,46, 56-58] and A. Ben-Baruch et al., unpublished results). 

Evidence for a protective role for CCL5 in breast cancer stems from studies in animal model systems, and the relevance of these findings to potential antitumor activities of CCL5 in breast cancer patients is not substantiated as yet. It could be that at initial stages of disease, CCL5 has the potential to elicit T-cell immune activities, and also to recruit monocytes with antitumor functions. However, when the expression of the chemokine is elevated, it is skewed... 

The identification of CCL5 association with advanced breast cancer or with progression raised the question whether the chemokine is merely correlated with advanced disease course, or rather, does it play an active role in disease development and progression. In this respect, several studies performed in murine model systems strongly supported a causative role for the CCL5/CCR5 axis in... 

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