• Anna Lesniak, Marta Bochynska-Czyz, Mariusz Sacharczuk, Sandor Benhye, Aleksandra Misicka, Magdalena Bujalska-Zadrozny, and Andrzej W Lipkowski.
• Mossakowski Medical Research Centre Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland; Medical University of Warsaw, Department of Pharmacodynamics, Centre for Preclinical Research and Technology, Banacha 1B, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: alesniak.imdik@gmail.com.
• Eur J Pharm Sci. 2016 Jun 30; 89: 39-49.

AbstractThe search for new drugs for cancer pain management has been a long-standing goal in basic and clinical research. Classical opioid drugs exert their primary antinociceptive effect upon activating opioid receptors located in the central nervous system. A substantial body of evidence points to the relevance of peripheral opioid receptors as potential targets for cancer pain treatment. Peptides showing limited blood-brain-barrier permeability promote peripheral analgesia in many pain models. In the present study we examined the peripheral and central analgesic effect of intravenously administered biphalin - a dimeric opioid peptide in a mouse skin cancer pain model, developed by an intraplantar inoculation of B16F0 melanoma cells. The effect of biphalin was compared with morphine - a golden standard in cancer pain management. Biphalin produced profound, dose-dependent and naloxone sensitive spinal analgesia. Additionally, the effect in the tumor-bearing paw was largely mediated by peripheral opioid receptors, as it was readily attenuated by the blood-brain-barrier-restricted opioid receptor antagonist - naloxone methiodide. On the contrary, morphine facilitated its analgesic effect primarily by activating spinal opioid receptors. Both drugs induced tolerance in B16F0 - implanted paws after chronic treatment, however biphalin as opposed to morphine, showed little decrease in its activity at the spinal level. Our results indicate that biphalin may be considered a future alternative drug in cancer pain treatment due to an enhanced local analgesic activity as well as lower tolerance liability compared with morphine. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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