The study on functions of opioid receptors expressed in T lymphocytes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Narcotics have been reported to develop immunosuppression as one of their side effects, the mechanism of which might be involved in opioid receptors expressed on immune cells, such as T lymphocytes.We have cloned before, from human T cell cDNA library, the cDNA encoding a splice variant of kappa opioid receptor, truncated at its amino terminus (termed as KOR4). The stable transformants of HEK293 cells heterologously transfected with KOR4 cDNA are now being constructed and characterization of KOR4 will be investigated. Moreover, we have demonstrated that, in human T lymphocytes and Jurkat cells, signaling pathways by T cell receptor stimulation would be alterd by morphine pretreatment. These results suggest that narcotics could change T cell functions and modulate immune systems.