Back to Search
Start Over
β-Endorphin mediates radiation therapy fatigue.
- Source :
-
Science advances [Sci Adv] 2022 Dec 16; Vol. 8 (50), pp. eabn6025. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 16. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Fatigue is a common adverse effect of external beam radiation therapy in cancer patients. Mechanisms causing radiation fatigue remain unclear, although linkage to skin irradiation has been suggested. β-Endorphin, an endogenous opioid, is synthesized in skin following genotoxic ultraviolet irradiation and acts systemically, producing addiction. Exogenous opiates with the same receptor activity as β-endorphin can cause fatigue. Using rodent models of radiation therapy, exposing tails and sparing vital organs, we tested whether skin-derived β-endorphin contributes to radiation-induced fatigue. Over a 6-week radiation regimen, plasma β-endorphin increased in rats, paralleled by opiate phenotypes (elevated pain thresholds, Straub tail) and fatigue-like behavior, which was reversed in animals treated by the opiate antagonist naloxone. Mechanistically, all these phenotypes were blocked by opiate antagonist treatment and were undetected in either β-endorphin knockout mice or mice lacking keratinocyte p53 expression. These findings implicate skin-derived β-endorphin in systemic effects of radiation therapy. Opioid antagonism may warrant testing in humans as treatment or prevention of radiation-induced fatigue.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2375-2548
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 50
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Science advances
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36525492
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn6025