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Review
. 2025 Dec;26(1):2538962.
doi: 10.1080/15384047.2025.2538962. Epub 2025 Aug 4.

Dual role of CXCL10 in cancer progression: implications for immunotherapy and targeted treatment‎

Osama A Madkhali  1 , Sivakumar S Moni  1   2 , Yosif Almoshari  1 , Fahad Y Sabei  1 , Awaji Y Safhi  1
Affiliations
Review

Dual role of CXCL10 in cancer progression: implications for immunotherapy and targeted treatment‎

Osama A Madkhali et al. Cancer Biol Ther. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

CXCL10 is a chemokine crucial for immune cell recruitment and inflammation modulation, especially ‎within the tumor microenvironment.‎ This review critically analyzes the underexplored role of CXCL10 in modulating ‎JAK/STAT, MAPK/ERK, and PI3K/Akt pathways across different tumor types, highlighting ‎inconsistencies in current research and proposing novel therapeutic strategies based on ‎research ‎from databases such as PubMed and Scopus. Future targeted therapies could ‎include personalized ‎approaches that either enhance the immunostimulatory functions of CXCL10‎ or inhibit its tumor promoting effects. Techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of CXCL10 has demonstrated potential in preclinical models to ‎reduce tumor-promoting inflammation, while nanoparticle-based CXCL10 inhibitors enhance ‎immune checkpoint blockade efficacy in melanoma. In addition, targeting CXCL10-related mechanisms of immune evasion such as inhibition of CXCR3 may help to prevent metastasis. Futureresearch should focus on CXCL10-targeting approaches in highly immunosuppressive tumors, such as pancreatic and glioblastoma, where immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown limited efficacy.

Keywords: CXCL10; immune regulation; signaling pathway; therapeutic ‎strategies‎; tumor immune evasion ‎; tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Mechanistic overview of CXCL10-mediated signaling pathways in cancer immunity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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