Frontiers in Medicine (Jul 2022)

Systemic immune effects of anesthetics and their intracellular targets in tumors

  • Ting Luan,
  • Yi Li,
  • Lihui Sun,
  • Lihui Sun,
  • Siqi Xu,
  • Siqi Xu,
  • Haifeng Wang,
  • Jiansong Wang,
  • Chong Li,
  • Chong Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.810189
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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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.

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