Immunotherapies are transforming outcomes for many cancer patients and are quickly becoming the fourth pillar of cancer therapy. However, their efficacy of only ∼25% in gastro-oesophageal cancer has been disappointing. This is attributed to factors such as insufficient patient stratification and the pro-tumourigenic immune landscape of gastro-oesophageal tumours. The chemokine profiles of solid tumours and the availability of effector immune cells greatly influence the immune infiltrate, producing ‘cold’ or ‘immune-excluded’ tumours in which immunotherapies are unable to reinvigorate the immune response. Other biological functions for chemokines have emerged, such as promoting cell survival, polarising T cell responses, and supporting several hallmarks of cancer. Therefore, chemokine networks may be exploited with therapeutic intent to mobilise and polarise anti-tumour immune cells, with further utility as combination treatments to augment the efficacy of current cancer immunotherapies. Few studies have demonstrated the clinical benefit of chemokine-targeted therapies as monotherapies, and this review proposes their consideration as combination treatments. Herein, we explore the anti-tumour and pro-tumour implications of chemokine signalling in gastro-oesophageal cancer and discuss their value as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in response to treatment.

免疫疗法正在改变许多癌症患者的治疗结果，并迅速成为癌症治疗的第四大支柱。然而，它们对胃食管癌的疗效仅为 ∼25%，令人失望。这是由于患者分层不足和胃食管肿瘤的促肿瘤免疫环境等因素。实体瘤的趋化因子谱和效应免疫细胞的可用性极大地影响免疫浸润，产生“冷”或“免疫排斥”肿瘤，其中免疫疗法无法重振免疫反应。趋化因子的其他生物学功能也已出现，例如促进细胞存活、极化 T 细胞反应以及支持癌症的多种特征。因此，趋化因子网络可用于动员和极化抗肿瘤免疫细胞的治疗目的，并进一步用作联合治疗以增强当前癌症免疫疗法的功效。很少有研究证明趋化因子靶向疗法作为单一疗法的临床益处，本综述建议考虑将其作为联合疗法。在此，我们探讨了趋化因子信号传导在胃食管癌中的抗肿瘤和促肿瘤意义，并讨论了它们作为治疗反应的预后和预测生物标志物的价值。