CCL2 (Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1) in cancer bone metastases

The paradigm of cancer development and metastasis is a comprehensive, complex series of events that ultimately reflects a coordinated interaction between the tumor cell and the microenvironment within which the tumor cell resides. Despite the realization that this relationship has changed the current paradigm of cancer research, the struggle continues to more completely understand the pathogenesis of the disease and the ability to appropriately identify and design novel targets for therapy. A particular area of research that has added a significant understanding to cancer metastasis is the role of chemokines and chemokine receptors. Here we review the current concepts of CCL2 (monocyte chemoattractant protein 1) and its role in tumor metastasis with particular interest to its role in the development of bone metastases.