Recent findings have shown that neuropeptide substance P (SP) regulates many tumor-related processes via the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1R). This study, published in Molecular Biology Reports, used HeLa cells to analyze the relevance of the SP/NK1R system in the pathogenesis and treatment of cervical cancer.
Ultimately, it was found that SP increased HeLa cell proliferation while treatment with aprepitant, an NK1R antagonist, inhibited HeLa cell viability and did so in a dose- and time-dependent way. Moreover, SP promoted the migrative phenotype of HeLa cells while aprepitant significantly reversed these effects.
This study provides exciting insight into the SP/NK1R system’s role in promoting proliferative and migrative HeLa cell phenotypes and the potential for aprepitant to treat cervical cancer [1].
Source:
[1] Mozafari, M., Ebrahimi, S., Darban, R. A., & Hashemy, S. I. (2021). Potential in vitro therapeutic effects of targeting SP/NK1R system in cervical cancer. Molecular Biology Reports, 49(2), 1067–1076. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06928-3
