A new treatment could be hope for many people with chronic pain.
In a recent preclinical study, researchers discovered a way to target pain centers in the brain through gene therapy without using opioids or risking addiction.
The results were published in the journal Nature and represent a major step forward in the treatment of chronic pain.
Chronic pain is a fairly constant feeling and nothing seems to numb it. Although opioid medications such as morphine can help reduce pain, they affect many parts of the brain and can cause dangerous side effects or lead to addiction.
This new therapy is designed to work like a button that only turns down the pain signal, without touching anything else.
It was created by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and School of Nursing, along with Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University.
“The goal was to reduce pain while avoiding the risks associated with narcotics,” says Dr. Gregory Corder, co-author of the study and assistant professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Penn. “We focused on the exact brain circuits that morphine affects, in hopes of finding a safer solution.”
He described it as the world’s first gene therapy specifically designed for central nervous system pain. It could be the start of a new class of non-addictive treatments for people suffering from long-term pain.
Chronic pain is sometimes called a “silent epidemic” and costs the US more than $635 billion annually. These costs result from both medical treatments and loss of productivity, such as people losing their jobs or being unable to earn a full income.
Morphine and similar drugs work well to relieve pain, but are highly addictive. Over time, patients build up a tolerance and require larger doses to get the same relief. This increases the risk of dependence and ultimately overdose.
This gene therapy could be a way to relieve pain without making people addicted to opioids. The next steps include more testing and eventually human clinical trials.
Dr. Michael Platt, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is helping lead the next phase. “As a scientist and someone with loved ones living with chronic pain, I am hopeful. This could bring real relief without the risk of addiction.”
