CXCL12 and cancer: However, another study demonstrated different roles for CXCR4 and CXCR7/ACKR3 in regulating estrogen-dependent growth of luminal breast tumor cells, where CXCR4 enhanced cancer cell growth and CXCR7/ACKR3 over-expression inhibited cell proliferation, possibly through CXCL12 sequestration (60).