The study, published in the April issue of Anesthesiology, examined whether or not opioid drugs and the body’s morphine-like chemicals play a role in breast cancer survival. More than 2,000 women with breast cancer were studied, and findings showed that the genotype A118G was associated with breast cancer-specific mortality at 10 years. Women with one or more copies of the G variant had decreased breast cancer-specific mortality.
“Many are unaware that the human body produces its own morphine-like chemicals every day,” said Samuel McLean, M.D, senior author of the study. “Therefore, if morphine-like chemicals influence cancer survival, then naturally occurring inherited differences in how the body responds to its own morphine-like chemicals and pain-relieving opioid drugs also should be associated with cancer survival.”
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