The chemokine system, and its CCR5 and CXCR4 receptors, as potential targets for personalized therapy in cancer.

•Chemokines can act as pro-tumoral or anti-tumoral regulators of malignancy.•The CCR5–CCL5 and CXCR4–CXCL12 pathways generally have tumor-promoting impacts.•These two pathways may be promising candidates for personalized cancer therapy.•CCR5 & CXCR4 clinically-approved inhibitors may be considered for cancer therapy.•Challenges and opportunities of chemokine inhibitors in malignancy are discussed.