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Review
. 2022 Jul 28:9:810189.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.810189. eCollection 2022.

Systemic immune effects of anesthetics and their intracellular targets in tumors

Ting Luan  1 , Yi Li  2 , Lihui Sun  3   4 , Siqi Xu  3   4 , Haifeng Wang  1 , Jiansong Wang  1 , Chong Li  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Systemic immune effects of anesthetics and their intracellular targets in tumors

Ting Luan et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

According to the result released by the World Health Organization (WHO), non-communicable diseases have occupied four of the top 10 current causes for death in the world. Cancer is one of the significant factors that trigger complications and deaths; more than 80% cancer patients require surgical or palliative treatment. In this case, anesthetic treatment is indispensable. Since cancer is a heterogeneous disease, various types of interventions can activate oncogenes or mutate tumor suppressor genes. More and more researchers believe that anesthetics have a certain effect on the long-term recurrence and metastasis of tumors, but it is still controversial whether they promote or inhibit the progression of cancer. On this basis, a series of retrospective or prospective randomized clinical trials have been conducted, but it seems to be difficult to reach a conclusion within 5 years or longer. This article focuses on the effects of anesthetic drugs on immune function and cancer and reviews their latest targets on the tumor cells, in order to provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the selection of anesthetic drugs, exploring therapeutic targets, and improving the prognosis of cancer patients.

Keywords: immune effect; intravenous; local anesthetics; opioids; tumor-associated signal pathway; tumor-targeting gene; volatile anesthetics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Classification of anesthetics commonly used in clinical practice.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Anesthetics have effects on tumors, the nervous system, and the immune system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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