Opioid drugs provoke the growth and spread of cancer
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Opioid drugs used to relieve pain in patients with cancer in the postoperative period can stimulate the growth and spread of malignant tumors. This conclusion came from American scientists from the University of Chicago.
"Epidemiological data and laboratory studies suggest that this type of anesthesia, which doctors widely use in cancer and surgical practice, affects the frequency of relapse, tumor progression and metastases," said the author of the study. Jonathan Moss, MD, professor of the Department of Anesthesiology and intensive care at the University of Chicago.
Opioid-based painkillers, such as morphine, have been the gold standard for the treatment of postoperative and chronic pain in cancer patients over the past 200 years.
Published results of studies conducted since 2002 argue that opioids can stimulate the growth and spread of cancer cells, and laboratory data have shown that mu-opioid receptors play an important role in tumor progression.
Scientists, analyzing the survival rates of more than 2,000 breast cancer patients, concluded that women who underwent treatment for aggressive breast cancer with a point genetic mutation that made them less susceptible to opiates are much more likely to be alive 10 years after treatment cancer.
Summarizing the results of numerous studies, scientists argue that opioids (narcotic drugs such as morphine or the body's own opioids, such as endorphins) appear to have a significant proliferative effect on cancer cells.
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