ArticleCancers2021
Beta 2 Adrenergic Receptor Antagonist Propranolol and Opioidergic Receptor Antagonist Naltrexone Produce Synergistic Effects on Breast Cancer Growth Prevention by Acting on Cancer Cells and Immune Environment in a Preclinical Model of Breast Cancer.
Article in Cancers, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nervous and immune system crosstalk shapes cancer progression and treatment response.Discover oncology · 2026Review
- Recent advances in drug repurposing for cancer immunomodulation emerging strategies, mechanistic insights, and clinical translation.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Effects of Rosa damascena and its compounds on smooth muscle contractility.Journal of smooth muscle research = Nihon Heikatsukin Gakkai kikanshi · 2026Review
- Cancer-nervous system crosstalk: from biological mechanism to therapeutic opportunities.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
- Stress regulatory hormones and cancer: the contribution of epinephrine and cancer therapeutic value of beta blockers.Endocrine · 2025Review
- Opioid System and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Developmental pluripotency-associated 4 increases aggressiveness of pituitary neuroendocrine tumors by enhancing cell stemness.Neuro-oncology · 2025Article
- Review
- Review
- Breast cancer and neurotransmitters: emerging insights on mechanisms and therapeutic directions.Oncogene · 2023Review
- Antagonists of the Mu-Opioid Receptor in the Cancer Patient: Fact or Fiction?Current oncology reports · 2022Review
- Beta 2-Adrenergic Receptor in Circulating Cancer-Associated Cells Predicts for Increases in Stromal Macrophages in Circulation and Patient Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Beta 2 adrenergic receptor and mu opioid receptor interact to potentiate the aggressiveness of human breast cancer cell by activating the glycogen synthase kinase 3 signaling.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cancer progression is known to be promoted by increased body stress caused by elevated beta-adrenergic and opioidergic nervous system activities. The effects of β2-adrenergic blocker propranolol (PRO) and μ-opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (NTX) were tested using a preclinical model of human breast cancer. These drugs, individually, and more potently when combined, inhibited the cell growth and progression of breast cancer cells in vitro in cultures, and in vivo in rat xenografts. The antitumor activities of these drugs were associated with direct cell intrinsic effects, including increased cell growth arrest, elevated levels of apoptotic proteins, and reduced production of epithelial-mesenchymal transition factors by the tumor cells, as well as effects on innate immune activation and reduced inflammatory cytokine levels in plasma. These data suggest that the combined treatments of PRO and NTX produce impressive antitumor effects in the preclinical breast cancer model, and thereby may provide a new combinatorial treatment strategy with more clinical treatment modalities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.