There's a brand new way to get rid of pain
Staff at the New York University College of Dentistry Pain Research Center have developed a new targeted therapy for pain relief."We need new treatments for pain, including for cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy. Our long-term goal is to develop gene therapies that improve their quality of life," said Rajish Khan, director of the center and professor of molecular pathobiology at New York University.
The new method indirectly targets the NaV1.7 sodium channel, which is "responsible" for delivering pain impulses. Scientists have studied it before. But instead of trying to block the sodium channel to disrupt messages along these nerves, the scientists indirectly regulated it with a protein known as CRMP2.
"Our study is important in understanding the basic biology of the NaV1.7 sodium ion channel, which can be used to alleviate chronic pain. CRMP2 'talks' to the sodium ion channel and modulates its activity, delivering more or less sodium into the channel. If you block the "communication" between Nav1.7 and CRMP2 by preventing interaction between them, you can reduce the amount of sodium delivered. This calms the neuron and pain is alleviated," the scientists added.
The researchers found a region in the NaV1.7 channel where CRMP2 binds to it to regulate its activity. Interestingly, the protein did not bind to other sodium ion channels. This suggests that it has the unique ability to disrupt strategically important pathways for therapeutic use.
The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS).