A Prospective for the Potential Effect of Local Anesthetics on Stem-Like Cells in Colon Cancer

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death in the world. Surgical resection of the primary tumor is the central aspect of the current multiple modes of treatment and has been associated with better prognosis. The process of surgery, including anesthetic regimens, has increasingly been recognized to affect colon cancer recurrence and metastasis. Both retrospective clinical studies and laboratory studies have reported that colon cancer cells are inhibited by some local anesthetics. However, the application of local anesthetics in colon cancer treatment is limited by our understanding of the mechanisms underlying their effects on cancer biology. Local anesthetics have been proved to preferentially inhibit cancer stem cells which imply that local anesthetics target colon cancer stem cell to suppress cancer progressing. Here this paper will review and propose several potential studies, including using colon cancer cell lines and animal models to test the effect of local anesthetics on population, viability, and migration of colon cancer stem-like cell, and screen and search for potential molecular targets underlying these effects.