Opioid and nicotine receptors affect growth regulation of human lung cancer cell lines

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.87.9.3294· OSTI ID:5463803

Maneckjee, R; Minna, J D ^[1]

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1. National Cancer Institute-Navy Medical Oncology Branch, Bethesda, MD (USA) Uniformed Services Univ. of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD (USA)

Using specific radioactively-labeled ligands, the authors find that lung cancer cell lines of diverse histologic types express multiple, high-affinity membrane receptors for {mu}, {delta}, and {kappa} opioid agonists and for nicotine and {alpha}-bungarotoxin. These receptors are biologically active because cAMP levels decreased in lung cancer cells after opioid and nicotine application. Nicotine at concentrations found in the blood of smokers had no effect on in vitro lung cancer cell growth, whereas {mu}, {delta}, and {kappa} opioid agonists at low concentrations inhibited lung cancer growth in vitro. They also found that lung cancer cells expressed various combinations of immunoreactive opioid peptides ({beta}-endorphin, enkephalin, or dynorphin), suggesting the participation of opioids in a negative autocrine loop or tumor-suppressing system. Due to the almost universal exposure of patients with lung cancer to nicotine, they tested whether nicotine affected the response of lung cancer cell growth to opioids and found that nicotine at concentrations of 100-200 nM partially or totally reversed opioid-induced growth inhibition in 9/14 lung cancer cell lines. These in vitro results for lung cancer cells suggest that opioids could function as part of a tumor suppressor system and that nicotine can function to circumvent this system in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.

• OSTI ID: 5463803
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States), Vol. 87:9; ISSN 0027-8424
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CELL MEMBRANES
CROSS-LINKING
NARCOTICS
RECEPTORS
NICOTINE
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
TUMOR CELLS
GROWTH
CARCINOMAS
ENDORPHINS
ENKEPHALINS
LUNGS
TOXINS
ALKALOIDS
AMINES
ANIMAL CELLS
ANTIGENS
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AGENTS
AZINES
AZOLES
BODY
CELL CONSTITUENTS
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DEPRESSANTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DISEASES
DRUGS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS
MEMBRANE PROTEINS
MEMBRANES
NEOPLASMS
NEUROREGULATORS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PARASYMPATHOLYTICS
PARASYMPATHOMIMETICS
PEPTIDES
POLYMERIZATION
POLYPEPTIDES
PROTEINS
PYRIDINES
PYRROLES
PYRROLIDINES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
TOXIC MATERIALS
550201* - Biochemistry- Tracer Techniques