CXCL8 and neoplasm: MSCs have also been shown to promote tumor angiogenesis through release of VEGF, bFGF, FGF-2, IL-8, IL-6, TNF, IGF-1 and TGF β as well as subsequent transformation into smooth muscle cells (Gu et al., 2018) and pericytes, coupled with formation of new tumor vessels (Crisostomo et al., 2008; Efimenko et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2013; Kalluri, 2016; Liang et al., 2021).