John Streicher and Tamara King awarded Pilot Grant from Maine Cancer Foundation

John M. Streicher, Ph.D. and Tamara King, Ph.D., both assistant professors in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, have been awarded a Pilot Grant from the Maine Cancer Foundation. This one-year, $50,000 grant was awarded to this collaborative team to investigate the role of the Kappa Opioid Receptor in cancer proliferation both in vitro and in vivo.
 

Opioids prescribed for pain, especially morphine, have been shown to alter cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. While controversial, the possibility remains from these studies that morphine promotes cancer growth, which is an obvious problem for cancer patients who are often in severe pain.

Streicher has been developing novel pain drugs that target the Kappa Opioid Receptor, an alternative pain relief target that is not activated by opioids like morphine. However, the role of the Kappa Opioid Receptor in promoting cancer growth and metastasis is almost completely unknown. This leaves open the possibility that pain drugs that target the Kappa Opioid Receptor may also promote or inhibit cancer cell growth. The role of the Kappa Opioid Receptor in regulating cancer growth, thus, must be determined prior to the use of such pain drugs by cancer patients, and if, indeed, Kappa targeted drugs inhibit cancer growth, this opens another avenue for the treatment of cancer.
 
 

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