Abstract
The possibility that morphine and other opioids may modulate tumour growth and metastasis has been researched for many years. The recent past has seen multiple clinical studies attempting to document whether limiting the perioperative use of morphine is beneficial for cancer surgery patients. Furthermore, a lot of exciting new data has been generated in vitro, but also in preclinical and clinical studies, that indirectly shed light on the effect of opioids on cancer. Future directions in the field may include the role of endogenous morphine in tumour biology, the recent discovery that genetic polymorphisms of the mu opioid receptor are associated with cancer survival, the role of microRNAs in opioid receptor regulation and signalling, and the potential usefulness of peripheral opioid antagonists.
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Abbreviations
- MOR:
-
μ opioid receptor
- bFGF:
-
basic fibroblast growth factor
- CABG:
-
coronary artery bypass grafting
- EGFR:
-
epidermal growth factor receptor
- MiRNAs:
-
micro ribonucleic acids
- M3G:
-
morphine-3-glucuronide
- M6G:
-
morphine-6-glucuronide
- MD2:
-
myeloid differentiation protein-2
- NO:
-
nitric oxide
- NOS:
-
nitric oxide synthase
- NOP:
-
nociceptin receptor
- PDGFRβ:
-
platelet-derived growth factor receptor β
- RT-PCR:
-
reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction
- TLR4:
-
toll-like receptor 4
- UTR:
-
untranslated region
- VEGFR:
-
vascular endothelial growth factor receptor
- DOR:
-
δ opioid receptor
- KOR:
-
κ opioid receptor
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We are grateful to Peter J. Cabot for critically reading the manuscript.
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Parat, MO. (2013). Morphine and Metastasis: From Bench to Bedside. In: Parat, MO. (eds) Morphine and Metastasis. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5678-6_1
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