Opioids are widely used for perioperative
pain management in
cancer surgery patients. It has been reported that
opioids may alter
cancer recurrence or progression; however, there are no published reports regarding the effects of
opioids on
chemotherapy after
cancer surgery. Here we investigated the effects of
opioids (
morphine or
fentanyl) on cell proliferation and
5-fluorouracil sensitivity in the human
colon cancer cell line, HCT116. First, we exposed
cancer cells to the
opioid at various concentrations for 6 or 24 h and evaluated cell proliferation using a MTT assay. Next, to simulate the potential postoperative situation in which anticancer drugs are administered after
cancer surgery,
cancer cells were incubated with the
opioid for 6 or 24 h, followed by treatment with
5-fluorouracil for 48 h. Although
fentanyl did not affect cell proliferation,
morphine exposure for 6 h enhanced the proliferation. However, sensitivity of HCT116 cells to
5-fluorouracil was not altered in all treatment groups. The current study demonstrated that the
opioids commonly used during postoperative periods do not affect
5-fluorouracil sensitivity in human
colon cancer HCT116 cells.