Effects of morphine on proliferation of A549 lung cancer

Morphine is frequently used for patients suffering cancer in their end stages to relive pain. However, there are conflicting reports suggesting morphine to promote tumor growth and reduce survival rate in cancerous animal models or induce necrosis and apoptosis in the tumor cells. In the present study, we studied the effect of morphine on proliferation of human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cell line (A549). In this experimental study, after culturing A549 line cells, a suspension of 105 cell/ml was obtained. Then a concentration of 104 cell/100µl was added to each 96 wells of the plates. The wells were then categorized into three groups including control (containing no morphine), morphine 10 (containing10µm morphine) and morphine 30 (containing 30µm morphine). After 24h of incubation, the proliferation of A549 cells were examined using WST-1 cell counting Kit and Eliza method. Morphine induced proliferation in lung tumor cells; there was a significant association between increase in dose of morphine and rate of cell proliferation. Mean absorption dose in the group recieving 30µM of morphine (1.82±0.18) was significantly different from those recieving 10µM (1.52±0.08) or no morphine (1.44±0.09) (P<0.05). Rate of cell proliferation is increased with increasing doses of morphine in lung cancer. We propose use of morphine with more caution in lung cancer patients.