I recently read an academic paper titled "The u-Opioid Receptor in Cancer Progression: Is There a Direct Effect?". This paper, which was recently published in Anesthesiology, discusses the relationship between opioids and cancer recurrence and metastasis. Epidemiological studies indicate a lower recurrence of cancer in patients who received local anesthesia rather than opioids for pain management. My partner and I are focusing on the possible reasons behind the recurrence of cancer, so I found this article very relevant. Before going into detail about the direct effects of u-opioids (opioids that are associated with the u-receptor), the authors discuss the observed indirect effects of opioids and other anesthetic drugs. For example, anesthetic drugs may suppress the activity of NK (natural killer) cells, which are vital to a functioning immune system's defense against tumor cells.
The paper mainly focuses on MOR, the main receptor for commonly used opioids such as morphine, heroin, and fentanyl. The authors found that morphine stimulated cell proliferation migration in human endothelial dermal and pulmonary cells. Therefore, they believe that opioid use leads to cancer recurrence and tumor progression by affecting angiogenesis.
Aside from my own cancer project topic, this article made me think about the people interested in possible links between environment/lifestyle choices and cancer. I wonder if in addition to affecting cancer recurrence and existing tumors, opioid use can affect whether a person will develop cancer for the first time. It would be interesting to study the cancer rates among opioid addicts and whether certain cancers are more common than others. Overall, I think this is a useful article that proposes an interesting link between drug treatment and cancer.
Article Reference:
Lennon, Frances E., Jonathan Moss, and Patrick A. Singleton. "The u-Opioid Receptor in Cancer
Progression: Is There a Direct Effect?" Anesthesiology 116.4 (2012): 940-45. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Image Reference:
Image Reference:
Digital image. 29 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2009/10/29-
02.html>.
