A chemokine, the growth regulated oncogene-alpha is identical with MGSA (melanoma growth stimulatory activity) with its new designation being CXCL1. The expression of GRO can be induced by serum or PDGF and/or by a variety of inflammatory mediators, such as IL-1 and TNF, in monocytes, fibroblasts, melanocytes and epithelial cells. In certain tumor cell lines, GRO is expressed constitutively. Similar to other alpha chemokines, the three GRO proteins are potent neutrophil attractants and activators. In addition, these chemokines are also active toward basophils. All three GROs can bind with high affinity to the IL-8 receptor type B.