Morphine Promotes Tumor Angiogenesis and Increases Breast Cancer Progression

Figure 1

Morphine stimulates proliferation in MDA.MB231 cell lines. MDA.MB231 cells were incubated in medium containing (a) medium control, (b) 1 μm morphine, (c) 10 μm morphine, and (d) 100 μm morphine. Cell migration rates were quantitatively assessed by counting the number of cells in the denuded area at 0, 24, and 48 h after wound induction. At 48 h after wound induction, there were clearly more cells in the denuded area of morphine treated cells than untreated cells. (e) MTT assay results show an enhancement of proliferation in breast cancer cells treated with morphine with respect to control cells. Data are representative of three independent experiments ( value < 0.05). (f-g) Western blot showing that morphine reduces the expression of p53 in MDA.MB231 cells treated with morphine (lanes 2, 3, and 4) with respect to controls (lane 1) in dose dependent manner. β-Actin was used as loading control.