P2X receptors: New players in cancer pain

• 作者: Alessia Franceschini Elena Adinolfi
• 来源期刊: 世界生物化学杂志：英文版（电子版）
• 学科: 医学
• 关键词: CANCER PAIN ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE P2X2 P2X3 P2X2/3 P2X4 P2X7
• 年，卷（期）: 2014,（4）
• 页码范围: 429-436
• 页数: 8页
• 分类号: R730.2

摘要

Pain is unfortunately a quite common symptom for cancer patients. Normally pain starts as an episodic experience at early cancer phases to become chronic in later stages. In order to improve the quality of life of oncological patients, anti-cancer treatments are often accompanied by analgesic therapies. The P2 X receptor are adenosine triphosphate(ATP) gated ion channels expressed by several cells including neurons, cancer and immune cells. Purinergic signaling through P2 X receptors recently emerged as possible common pathway for cancer onset/growth and pain sensitivity. Indeed, tumor microenvironment is rich in extracellular ATP, which has a role in both tumor development and pain sensation. The study of the different mechanisms by which P2 X receptors favor cancer progression and relative pain, represents an interesting challenge to design integrated therapeutic strategies for oncological patients. This review summarizes recent findings linking P2 X receptors and ATP to cancer growth, progression and related pain. Special attention has been paid to the role of P2X2, P2X3, P2X4 and P2X7 in the genesisof cancer pain and to the function of P2X7 in tumor growth and metastasis. Therapeutic implications of the administration of different P2 X receptor blockers to alleviate cancer-associated pain sensations contemporarily reducing tumor progression are also discussed.