Suppression of the immune system has been constantly reported in the last years as a classical side effect of opioid drugs. Most of the studies on the immunological properties of opioids refer to ...morphine. Although morphine remains the "reference molecule," other semisynthetic and synthetic opioids are frequently used in the clinical practice. The primary objective of this review is to analyze the available literature on the immunomodulating properties of opioid drugs different from morphine in preclinical models and in the human. A search strategy was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane databases using the terms "immunosuppression," "immune system," "opioids," "Natural killer cells," "cytokines," and "lymphocytes." The results achieved concerning the effects of fentanyl, methadone, oxycodone, buprenorphine, remifentanil, tramadol, and tapentadol on immune responses in animal studies, in healthy volunteers and in patients are reported. With some limitations due to the different methods used to measure immune system parameters, the large range of opioid doses and the relatively scarce number of participants in the available studies, we conclude that it is not correct to generalize immunosuppression as a common side effect of all opioid molecules.
Opioids and the immune system Sacerdote, Paola
Palliative medicine,
01/2006, Letnik:
20, Številka:
8_suppl
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Opioid compounds such as morphine produce powerful analgesia that is effective in
treating various types of pain. In addition to their therapeutic efficacy, opioids
can produce several well known ...adverse events, and, as has recently been recognized,
can interfere with the immune response. The immunomodulatory activities of morphine
have been characterized in animal and human studies. Morphine can decrease the
effectiveness of several functions of both natural and adaptive immunity, and
significantly reduces cellular immunity. Indeed, in animal studies morphine is
consistently associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to infection and
worsening of cancer. However, from several animal studies it emerges that not all
opioids induce the same immunosuppressive effects, and evaluating each
opioid’s profile is important for appropriate analgesic selection.
Buprenorphine is a potent opioid that is frequently prescribed for chronic pain.
Acute intracerebroventricular administration of buprenorphine has been shown in rats
not to affect cellular immune responses, while a statistically significant
inhibition of the immune response was observed with morphine. In mouse studies,
chronic administration of buprenorphine led to immune parameters important for
antimicrobial responses or for anti-tumour surveillance (lymphoproliferation,
natural killer (NK)-lymphocyte activity, cytokine production, lymphocyte number)
being unaffected. In contrast, levels of these immune markers were significantly
reduced when the potent μ-agonist fentanyl was administered, but recovered
after longer periods as tolerance developed. Because the intrinsic immunosuppressive
activity varies between individual opioids, predicting the outcome on immunity can
be difficult. To study this, the effects of morphine, fentanyl and buprenorphine on
NK-lymphocyte activity depressed by experimental surgery were examined in rats.
Treating animals immediately after surgery with equianalgesic doses of morphine and
buprenorphine significantly reduced surgery-induced immunosuppression. However,
buprenorphine reverted NK-lymphocyte activity to preoperative levels, while in
morphine-treated rats NK-lymphocyte activity was ameliorated, although not
completely. In contrast, fentanyl did not prevent immunosuppression induced by
surgery. Overall, from several animal studies it emerges that buprenorphine has the
more favourable profile, being a potent analgesic devoid of intrinsic
immunosuppressive activity.
Current evidence supports the central role of neuropeptides in the molecular mechanisms underlying dental pain. In particular, substance P, a neuropeptide produced in neuron cell bodies localised in ...dorsal root and trigeminal ganglia, contributes to the transmission and maintenance of noxious stimuli and inflammatory processes. The major role of substance P in the onset of dental pain and inflammation is increasingly being recognised. Well-grounded experimental and clinical observations have documented an increase in substance P concentration in patients affected by caries, pulpitis, or granulomas and in those undergoing standard orthodontic or orthodontic/dental care procedures. This paper focuses on the role of substance P in the induction and maintenance of inflammation and dental pain, in order to define future lines of research for the evaluation of therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating the complex effects of this mediator in oral tissues.
Chronic neuropathic pain constitutes a serious public health problem, but the disease mechanisms are only partially understood. The involvement of different brain regions like the medial prefrontal ...cortex has already been established, but the comparison of the role of different subregions and layers is still inconclusive. In the current study, we performed patch-clamp recordings followed by anatomical reconstruction of pyramidal cells from different layers of the prelimbic and infralimbic subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex in neuropathic (spared nerve injury, SNI) and control mice. We found that in the prelimbic cortex, layer 2/3 pyramidal cells from SNI mice exhibited increased excitability compared to sham controls, whereas prelimbic layer 5 pyramidal neurons showed reduced excitability. Pyramidal cells in both layer 2/3 and layer 5 of the infralimbic subregion did not change their excitability, but layer 2/3 pyramidal cells displayed increased dendritic length and branching. Our findings support the view that chronic pain is associated with subregion- and layer-specific changes in the medial prefrontal cortex. They therefore provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the chronification of pain.
Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy (CIN) is a major adverse effect associated with many chemotherapeutics, including bortezomib (BTZ). Several mechanisms are involved in CIN, and recently a role has ...been proposed for prokineticins (PKs), a chemokine family that induces proinflammatory/pro-algogen mediator release and drives the epigenetic control of genes involved in cellular differentiation. The present study evaluated the relationships between epigenetic mechanisms and PKs in a mice model of BTZ-induced painful neuropathy. To this end, spinal cord alterations of histone demethylase KDM6A, nuclear receptors PPARα/PPARγ, PK2, and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β were assessed in neuropathic mice treated with the PK receptors (PKRs) antagonist PC1. BTZ treatment promoted a precocious upregulation of KDM6A, PPARs, and IL-6, and a delayed increase of PK2 and IL-1β. PC1 counteracted allodynia and prevented the increase of PK2 and of IL-1β in BTZ neuropathic mice. The blockade of PKRs signaling also opposed to KDM6A increase and induced an upregulation of PPAR gene transcription. These data showed the involvement of epigenetic modulatory enzymes in spinal tissue phenomena associated with BTZ painful neuropathy and underline a role of PKs in sustaining the increase of proinflammatory cytokines and in exerting an inhibitory control on the expression of PPARs through the regulation of KDM6A gene expression in the spinal cord.
The development of neuropathy and of mood alterations is frequent after chemotherapy. These complications, independent from the antitumoral mechanism, are interconnected due to an overlapping in ...their processing pathways and a common neuroinflammatory condition. This study aims to verify whether in mice the treatment with the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib (BTZ), at a protocol capable of inducing painful neuropathy, is associated with anxiety, depression and supraspinal neuroinflammation. We also verify if the therapeutic treatment with the antagonist of the prokineticin (PK) system PC1, which is known to contrast pain and neuroinflammation, can prevent mood alterations. Mice were treated with BTZ (0.4 mg/kg three times/week for 4 weeks); mechanical allodynia and locomotor activity were evaluated over time while anxiety (dark light and marble burying test), depression (sucrose preference and swimming test) and supraspinal neuroinflammation were checked at the end of the protocol. BTZ treated neuropathic mice develop anxiety and depression. The presence of mood alterations is related to the presence of neuroinflammation and PK system activation in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and hypothalamus with high levels of PK2 and PKR2 receptor, IL-6 and TNF-α, TLR4 and an upregulation of glial markers. PC1 treatment, counteracting pain, prevented the development of supraspinal inflammation and depression-like behavior in BTZ mice.
Impaired immune function during the perioperative period may be associated with worse short- and long-term outcomes. Morphine is considered a major contributor to immune modulation.
We performed a ...pilot study to investigate postoperative immune function by analyzing peripheral blood mononuclear cells' functionality and cytokine production in 16 patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. All patients were treated with intravenous (i.v.) patient-controlled analgesia with morphine and continuous wound infusion with ropivacaine+methylprednisolone for 24 hours. After 24 hours, patients were randomized into two groups, one continuing intrawound infusion and the other receiving only i.v. analgesia. We evaluated lymphoproliferation and cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells at the end of surgery and at 24 and 48 hours postoperatively.
A significant reduction in TNF-α, IL-2, IFN-γ and lymphoproliferation was observed immediately after surgery, indicating impaired cell-mediated immunity. TNF-α and IFN-γ remained suppressed up to 48 hours after surgery, while a trend to normalization was observed for IL-2 and lymphoproliferation, irrespective of the treatment group. A significant inverse correlation was present between age and morphine and between age and lymphoproliferation. No negative correlation was present between morphine and cytokine production. We did not find any differences within the two groups between 24 and 48 hours in terms of morphine consumption and immune responses.
A relevant depression of cell-mediated immunity is associated with major surgery and persists despite optimal analgesia. Even though morphine may participate in immunosuppression, we did not retrieve any dose-related effect.
This review provides an overview of the immunological effects of commonly used analgesic opioid drugs, focusing mainly on two aspects: the mechanisms involved and the potential clinical relevance. ...The immunomodulatory effects of morphine have been characterized in animal and human studies. Morphine decreases the effectiveness of both natural and acquired immunity, interfering with intracellular pathways involved in immune regulation, both directly and indirectly via the activation of central receptors. The mechanisms and the targets at the basis of opioid-induced immunomodulation have started to be elucidated, demonstrating an interaction between opioid receptors and several molecules involved in the complex and well orchestrated immune response, such as transcription factors and receptors of both myeloid and lymphoid cells. Due to their widespread and expanding use, the immunological effects of opioid are receiving considerable attention because of concerns that opioid-induced changes in the immune system may affect the outcome of surgery or of variety of disease processes, including bacterial and viral infections and cancer. It is also emerging that not all opioids induce the same immunosuppressive effects and evaluating each opioid profile is important for appropriate analgesic selection. The impact of the opioid-mediated immune effects could be particularly dangerous in selective vulnerable populations, such as the elderly or immunocompromised patients. Indeed, it is evident that the possibility of reaching adequate and equivalent pain control by choosing either immunosuppressive drugs or drugs without an effect on immune responses may be an important consideration in opioid therapy.
Neuropathy is a dose-limiting side effect of many chemotherapeutics, including bortezomib. The mechanisms underlying this condition are not fully elucidated even if a contribution of ...neuroinflammation was suggested. Here, we investigated the role of a chemokine family, the prokineticins (PKs), in the development of bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy (BIPN), and we used a PK receptor antagonist to counteract the development and progression of the pathology.
Neuropathy was induced in male C57BL/6J mice by using a protocol capable to induce a detectable neuropathic phenotype limiting systemic side effects. The presence of allodynia (both mechanical and thermal) and thermal hyperalgesia was monitored over time. Mice were sacrificed at two different time points: 14 and 28 days after the first bortezomib (BTZ) injection. At these times, PK system activation (PK2 and PK-Rs), macrophage and glial activation markers, and cytokine production were evaluated in the main station involved in pain transmission (sciatic nerve, DRG, and spinal cord), and the effect of a PK receptors antagonist (PC1) on the same behavioral and biochemical parameters was assessed. Structural damage of DRG during BTZ treatment and an eventual protective effect of PC1 were also evaluated.
BTZ induces in mice a dose-related allodynia and hyperalgesia and a progressive structural damage to the DRG. We observed a precocious increase of macrophage activation markers and unbalance of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in sciatic nerve and DRG together with an upregulation of GFAP in the spinal cord. At higher BTZ cumulative dose PK2 and PK receptors are upregulated in the PNS and in the spinal cord. The therapeutic treatment with the PK-R antagonist PC1 counteracts the development of allodynia and hyperalgesia, ameliorates the structural damage in the PNS, decreases the levels of activated macrophage markers, and prevents full neuroimmune activation in the spinal cord.
PK system may be a strategical pharmacological target to counteract BTZ-induced peripheral neuropathy. Blocking PK2 activity reduces progressive BTZ toxicity in the DRG, reducing neuroinflammation and structural damage to DRG, and it may prevent spinal cord sensitization.
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