Enkephalins stimulate leukemia cell migration and surface expression of CD9

W Heagy1, K Duca, R W Finberg

  • 1Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.

Summary

Endogenous and synthetic opioid peptides, like methionine-enkephalin, stimulate pre-B acute lymphoblastoid leukemia (ALL) cell migration. This process involves the leukemia cell marker CD9 and can be blocked by naloxone.

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