Research to end chronic pain

on Slashdot.org:

Scientists from University College London seem to have come up with a two-pronged treatment regiment that they believe would help patients suffering from chronic pain. And in a strange irony, they did it by making it possible for mice – and one human – feel pain when they previously couldn't. From the story: "To examine if opioids were important for painlessness, the researchers gave naloxone, an opioid blocker, to mice lacking Nav1.7 and found that they became able to feel pain. They then gave naloxone to a 39-year-old woman with the rare mutation and she felt pain for the first time in her life. 'After a decade of rather disappointing drug trials, we now have confirmation that Nav1.7 really is a key element in human pain,' says senior author Professor John Wood (UCL Medicine). 'The secret ingredient turned out to be good old-fashioned opioid peptides, and we have now filed a patent for combining low dose opioids with Nav1.7 blockers. This should replicate the painlessness experienced by people with rare mutations, and we have already successfully tested this approach in unmodified mice.'"

http://www.modernreaders.com/people-may-be-able-to-feel-no-pain-with-new-treatment/34965/melissa-taylor

December 5, 2015 By Melissa Taylor

Scientists have come up with a two-pronged treatment regimen that they believe would help patients suffering from chronic pain. And in a strange irony, they did it by making it possible for mice – and one human – feel pain when they previously couldn’t.

Researchers from University College London experimented with genetically altered mice, whose nerve channels were removed. Nerve cells make use of different channels to relay information to the nervous system, including the sensation of pain. Earlier studies had indicated that sodium channel Nav1.7 is instrumental for signaling pain, and those born with a non-functional Nav1.7 are impervious to pain.

“After a decade of rather disappointing drug trials, we now have confirmation that Nav1.7 really is a key element in human pain,” said University College London professor John Wood, study lead, in a statement. “The secret ingredient turned out to be good old-fashioned opioid peptides, and we have now filed a patent for combining low dose opioids with Nav1.7 blockers. This should replicate the painlessness experienced by people with rare mutations, and we have already successfully tested this approach in unmodified mice.”

The researchers sought to find a way to artificially mimic painless conditions, given the knowledge that broad-spectrum channel blockers aren’t feasible for long-term use as they cause numbness and other long- term side effects, and that opioids are an addictive substance that also cause their share of side effects. They believed that individuals with the mutation have unusually high levels of natural opioids, which were found to be common to mice and humans. Combined with a non-functional Nav1.7, it appears that researchers now have an all-powerful pain treatment for humans, following their success with mouse subjects, and a 39-year-old woman.

 Conversely, it also may serve as a cure for painlessness.

In order to prove their point, the researchers gave mice with non-functioning Nav1.7 an opioid blocker, and did the same to the woman. Both the mice and the woman were able to feel pain, with the woman finally feeling pain for the first time in her life. Still, it might be some time before such a treatment becomes mainstream. Wood hopes to begin more extensive trials in 2017, involving low-level, non-addictive opioids and the blocking of Nav1.7, all in hope of curing chronic pain problems in humans.