Low doses of methylnaltrexone inhibits head and neck squamous cell carcinoma growth in vitro and in vivo by acting on the mu-opioid receptor.

Abstract

The Mu-opioid receptor (MOR) has been implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis. Methylnaltrexone (MNTX), an antagonist of MOR, has shown to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis in lung cancer cell lines. The effect of MNTX on other cell lines such as head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has not been investigated. We measured the expression and activity of the receptor in different HNSCC cell lines. Then, we evaluated the impact of modulating the expression MOR and the effect of MNTX on the proliferation, clonogenic activity, invasion, and migration of two HNSCC (FaDu and MDA686Tu) cell lines expressing MOR and one cell line (UMSCC47) not expressing the receptor. We also evaluated the impact of MNTX on tumor growth and metastasis formation in vivo. Activation of the receptor with [d-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4, Gly5-ol] (DAMGO) caused a significant reduction in cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels in FaDu cells. Knockdown of MOR inhibited in vitro aggressive cell behaviors on FaDu and MDA686Tu cells and correlated with a reduction in markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In vitro studies showed that MNTX strongly inhibited the proliferation, clonogenic activity, invasion, and migration of FaDu and MDA686Tu cells but has no effect on UMSCC47 cells. In vivo experiments demonstrated that MNTX suppresses tumor growth in HNSCC cell tumor-bearing mice. Our studies indicate that MOR could be considered as a therapeutic target to treat HNSCC.

• Authors: Aysegul Gorur, Miguel Patiño, Ted Shi, German Corrales, Hideaki Takahashi, Roberto Rangel, Frederico O Gleber-Netto, Curtis Pickering, Jeffrey N Myers, Juan P Cata
• Journal: Journal of cellular physiology (J Cell Physiol) Vol. 236 Issue 11 Pg. 7698-7710 (11 2021) ISSN: 1097-4652 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 34038587 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents
• Narcotic Antagonists
• OPRM1 protein, human
• Quaternary Ammonium Compounds
• Receptors, Opioid, mu
• methylnaltrexone
• Naltrexone

Topics

• Animals
• Antineoplastic Agents (pharmacology)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Movement (drug effects)
• Cell Proliferation (drug effects)
• Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (drug effects)
• Head and Neck Neoplasms (drug therapy, genetics, metabolism, pathology)
• Humans
• Male
• Mice, Inbred C57BL
• Mice, Nude
• Naltrexone (analogs & derivatives, pharmacology)
• Narcotic Antagonists (pharmacology)
• Neoplasm Invasiveness
• Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (pharmacology)
• Receptors, Opioid, mu (antagonists & inhibitors, genetics, metabolism)
• Signal Transduction
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck (drug therapy, genetics, metabolism, pathology)
• Tumor Burden (drug effects)
• Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
• Mice