Dezocine Has the Potential to Regulate the Clinical and Biological Features of Tumors

Xudong Hu,1,* Bing Luo,2,* Lei Qiu,2 Shaosen Chen,3 Qing Wu,2 Qingbiao Chen,2 Xingqing Liu,1 Chen Ling,1 Shuping Deng,4 Manjuan Yuan,3 Peicun Hu3 1Department of Anesthesiology, The Second People’s Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Surgery, The Second People’s Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Second People’s Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Huanshi Hospital, People’s Hospital of Chancheng District, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Peicun Hu, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Second People’s Hospital of Foshan, No. 78 of Weiguo Road, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13902845621, Fax +86 757-88032008, Email hpcun@163.comAbstract: Cancer is the second leading cause of death following ischemic heart disease in the world and the primary clinical, social and economic burden. Surgical resection is the main measure for the treatment of the vast majority of solid tumors. However, the recurrence and metastasis of tumors occur at different periods after surgery in many cases undergoing radical tumor surgery, which is the main cause of death of tumor patients. Moreover, tumor patients are prone to suffer from mental depression, which may increase the morbidity and mortality of tumors. Tumors have a series of clinical biological signs with the following five main features: postoperative pain and cancerous pain; suppression of antitumor immunity; angiogenesis in tumors; proliferation, growth and metastasis of tumors; and mental depression. Surgery is the first treatment in the majority of cancer patients with solid tumors. Opioids are required for anesthesia and postoperative analgesia. For cancerous pain control, patients undergo surgery, and their quality of life of is improved. However, traditional opioids, such as morphine, may inhibit antitumor immunity, induce vascular growth of tumors and promote the proliferation, invasion and migration of cancer cells, and traditional opioids can induce a risk of somatic dependence. However, studies have found that not all opioids share the effects of immunosuppression, tumor proliferation promotion and angiogenesis induction. Dezocine, a novel opioid with specific pharmacological mechanisms, has been demonstrated to regulate the five clinical and biological features of tumors. We reviewed the preclinical and clinical studies of dezocine on postoperative pain and cancer pain in tumor patients as well as the immune system, tumor angiogenesis, tumor proliferation, tumor growth, tumor metastasis and mental depression. We proposed that dezocine may be the best choice of opioids for anesthesia and analgesia in cancer patients.Keywords: dezocine, cancer, anesthesia, postoperative analgesia, cancerous pain, immune, angiogenesis, proliferation, growth and metastasis, mental depression