CXCL9 and neoplasm: Our study backs previous findings by Cicchini et al [24] who showed, using gene expression data from human cervical tissue specimens, that CCL3, CCL19, CXCL8, CXCL9 and CXCL11 mRNA levels increased progressively with disease severity while CCL20, CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL5, and CXCL6 were upregulated in early transition from normal to CIN1/2 and CCL8 and CXCL12 increased in transition to invasive tumours.