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Butorphanol inhibits angiogenesis and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma and regulates MAPK pathway

The Journal of Antibiotics volume 75, pages 626–634 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Butorphanol, a synthetic opioid, exerts analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects against pathogenic diseases. Butorphanol repressed malignant behaviors of tumor cells. In this study, the role of butorphanol in hepatocellular carcinoma was evaluated. Firstly, hepatocellular carcinoma cells were treated with butorphanol. The results showed that butorphanol decreased cell viability of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Cell proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells were inhibited by butorphanol. Secondly, butorphanol suppressed angiogenesis, and reduced phosphorylation levels of p38 and JNK in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Thirdly, butorphanol reduced in vivo tumor growth of hepatocellular carcinoma in nude mice. Butorphanol reduced tumor micro-vascular density (MVD) and repressed lung metastasis. In conclusion, butorphanol exerted anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma and induced inactivation of MAPKs signaling.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Joint construction project of Henan Province (Grant No. LHGJ20190425).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China

    Peilei Guo, Qiangfu Hu, Jiandong Wang, Longzhu Hai, Xiaohong Nie & Qingyuan Zhao

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  1. Peilei Guo
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  2. Qiangfu Hu
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  3. Jiandong Wang
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  4. Longzhu Hai
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  5. Xiaohong Nie
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  6. Qingyuan Zhao
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Contributions

Conceptualization, methodology, and writing—original draft were performed by PG; Formal analysis, resources, and investigation were performed by QH; Formal analysis, visualization and data curation were performed by JW; Project administration, supervision, and validation were performed by LH; Validation, supervision, and writing—review and editing were performed by XN and QZ. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Peilei Guo.

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Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University.

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Guo, P., Hu, Q., Wang, J. et al. Butorphanol inhibits angiogenesis and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma and regulates MAPK pathway. J Antibiot 75, 626–634 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-022-00565-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-022-00565-z

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