REVIEW

The significance of substance P in physiological and malignant haematopoiesis

Michal Nowicki¹, Danuta Ostalska-Nowicka², Beata Kondraciuk¹ and Bogdan Miskowiak³

¹ Department of Histology and Embryology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland
² Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Nephrology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland
³ Department of Optometry and Biology of the Visual System, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Michal Nowicki
Department of Histology and Embryology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Swiecickiego 6, 60-781 Poznan, Poland; mnowicki{at}amp.edu.pl

The role of substance P (SP) in physiological haematopoiesis is well established. However, it also seems to be important in the neoplastic transformation of bone marrow, leading to the development of acute leukaemia in children, and also metastases to bone marrow of solid tumours (particularly neuroblastoma and breast cancer) in early stages of these diseases. This review summarises the available data on SP involvement in both processes. In the future, SP antagonists may be used as anti-neoplastic drugs, for example by direct or indirect blocking of tumour cell proliferation through inhibition of growth factor production and interleukin-1b synthesis.

Abbreviations: ALL, acute lymphocytic leukaemia; BM, bone marrow; G-CSF, granulocyte colony stimulating factor; GM-CSF, granulocyte monocyte colony stimulating factor; HK, haemokinin; HSC, haematopoietic stem cell; IL, interleukin; MSC, mesenchymal stem cell; NK, neurokinin; NK-R, neurokinin receptor; PPT, preprotachykinin; SCF, stem cell factor; SP, substance P

Keywords: substance P; tachykinins; hematopoiesis; malignancy

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