Clinical Significance of Selected Chemokines in Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer (TC) is a common malignancy of the endocrine system. The global incidence of TC has increased dramatically in recent years. The available tumor biomarkers are not specific to TC and therefore finding new markers which could be helpful in the diagnostic process, prognosis and treatment of TC patients is a great challenge facing present and future researchers. Chemokines are small chemotactic proteins which play a significant role in the migration of leukocytes to many sites of the inflammatory process. It has been suggested that these molecules are able to promote cancer development by mediating inflammation. This paper presents the general structure of chemokines and their receptors as well as their potential significance in TC. The final aspect of this review is a summary of current knowledge and research results concerning the potential significance of selected chemokines and their specific receptors as candidates for novel tumor markers of TC.