ELR+ CXC chemokines and oncogenic Ras-mediated tumorigenesis.

The small GTPase Ras is mutated to remain in the active oncogenic state in one-third of human cancers, thereby promoting tumorigenesis. It has recently come to light that one consequence of oncogenic Ras signaling is secretion of cytokines vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin 6 (IL6), hCXCL1 (Gro-alpha) and hCXCL8 (IL8). As the latter two belong to the ELR+ Cys-X-Cys (CXC) chemokine family, we investigated whether the entire family of ELR+ CXC chemokines plays a role in oncogenic Ras-mediated tumorigenesis. We now demonstrate that oncogenic Ras induced the expression and secretion of the ELR+ CXC chemokine family in different tumorigenic human cells and that these chemokines are elevated in tumor specimens. Moreover, genetic ablation of the common receptor for these chemokines, mCXCR2, reduced oncogenic Ras-driven tumorigenesis in mice. Taken together, we suggest that oncogenic Ras induces the secretion of the ELR+ CXC chemokine family to promote tumorigenesis. This chemokine signature may identify the presence of Ras activation in cancer and perhaps even serve as targets for oncogenic Ras-driven tumor cells.