Scientists at the NYU College of Dentistry discovered that suppressing a protein in the body could decrease an oral cancer patient’s tolerance to common pain relief opioids like morphine.

The protein, epidermal growth factor receptor, regulates cell growth and division across the human body. But oral cancer can cause EGFR to be overexpressed, resulting in uncontrollable cell growth that leads to painful tumors, senior author Yi Ye told WSN.

“This is one of the most painful cancers,” said Ye, an associate professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the dental school. “The patient develops tumors in their tongue — the orofacial region — which makes it very difficult to eat, drink and even talk to their friends or family members.”

While opioids are typically used to treat severe pain caused by oral cancer, many patients quickly develop tolerance to their pain medication. The researchers measured expression of the proteins that activate EGFR in human tissue samples, finding that cells with oral cancer demonstrated high levels of EGFR. They also measured pain and opioid tolerance levels in mice with oral cancer to find that inhibiting EGFR could both decrease pain and reduce their tolerance to opioids like morphine.

Ye said that many doctors already use certain EGFR-inhibiting drugs that are FDA-approved such as cetuximab as an “add-on” treatment in oral cancer patients. He added that future researchers could conduct additional trials to assess whether they would be effective in treating pain and opioid tolerance as well.

“These drugs are already available in the market — they are routinely used as a cancer therapy for treatments, so we know that the risk is minimal,” Ye said. “Maybe this drug can be rapidly repurposed if it does benefit some patients.”

Contact Zachary Karp at [email protected].