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. 2018 Sep 25;5:271. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00271

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Proposed roles for CXCR3 and its ligands in melanoma. CXCR3 plays at least two key roles in melanoma. The presence of CXCR3 on melanoma cells can lead to metastasis from the primary site through endothelial cell and tumor cell production of CXCL9/10. Meanwhile, the release of DNA from melanoma cells results in uptake by APCs and the activation of the STING pathway resulting in the production of type 1 IFN. Type 1 interferon released from APCs including plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) then upregulates CXCL10 which can recruit CXCR3+ T cells and NK cells from the blood. Once at the tumor site, T cells and NK cells can produce IFN-γ which acts on keratinocytes, APCs and other skin cells to induce production of CXCL9/10/11 or interact with the tumour to induce cell death. This leads to further recruitment of the adaptive immune cells and anti-tumor immunity.