Dear Editor,

In the current report by Nowicki et al. the authors review and discuss the probable role of substance P in childhood leukemias and solid bone cancers, and the use of substance P antagonists for treatment (1). As reviewed by the authors, there is much evidence to support a role for substance P in carcinogenesis. Others have suggested substance P may induce mitogenesis through activation of neurokinin-1 receptor (2), and inhibition of substance P signal transduction may indeed prove to be an effective treatment option (3). In these days of molecular medicine, specific targets for the treatment of neoplasms are continuously being sought (4, 5).
References

1. Nowicki M, Ostalska-Nowicka D, Kondraciuk B, and Miskowiak B. The significance of substance P in physiological and malignant hematopoiesis. J Clin Pathol 2006, on-line, 15 December 2006.

2. Esteban F, Munoz M, Gonzalez-Moles MA, Rosso M. A role for substance P in cancer promotion and progression: a mechanism to counteract intracellular death signals following oncogene activation or DNA damage. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2006; 25(1):137-45

3.Yamaguchi K, Richardson MD, Bigner DD, Kwatra MM. Signal transduction through substance P receptor in human glioblastoma cells: roles for Src and PKCdelta. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2005;56(6):585-93.

4. Herbst RS, Lippman SM. Molecular signatures of lung cancer- toward personalized therapy. N Engl J Med. 2007; ;356(1):76-8.

5. Muss HB. Targeted therapy for metastatic breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2006; 355(26):2783-5.