Contribution of Heparan Sulphate Binding in CCL21-Mediated Migration of Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

Chemokine receptor CCR7 is implicated in the metastasis of breast cancer to the lymph nodes. Chemokine function is dependent upon their binding to both cell-surface heparan sulphate (HS) and to their specific receptors; thus, the role of HS in CCR7-mediated lymph node metastasis was investigated by creating a non-HS binding chemokine CCL21 (mut-CCL21). Mut-CCL21 (Δ103–134) induced leukocyte chemotaxis in diffusion gradients but did not stimulate trans-endothelial migration of PBMCs (p p p = 0.0148), suggesting the potential to target chemokine binding to HS as a therapeutic option.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• chemokines
• metastasis
• CCL21