Exciting new technique can switch off pain at source

Researchers are developing a new way of switching off pain directly at its source, potentially eliminating the need for highly addictive painkillers.
“Current therapies for pain relief are very poor because they are incredibly non-specific,” explains Prof Nick Spencer who is leading the work. “If we don’t know where the nerve endings are that detect pain and we don’t know how they’re activated, it is very difficult to develop selective therapies to prevent their activation. Today if someone has severe pain they will probably be given an opioid like morphine that is very good at relieving pain but has a whole range of side effects.”
So the team has been mapping the exact locations of all the nerve endings that detect pain from different internal organs and how these pain receptors are activated in the body. Then they injected a harmless virus – containing a specific molecule – into the organ or site from which the pain originates. The virus is then transported into the spinal cord where the molecule selectively shuts down the development of a particular sodium channel that is essential for pain perception.
Laboratory tests targeting the gastrointestinal tract have registered a 75% reduction in pain without affecting other organs in the body.
“Turning pain off is not instant, it can take days to weeks, but the big advantage is that the pain can be suppressed for long periods without the classic side effects of current pain therapies,” says Prof Spencer. “We can suppress pain for months to years, so it’s very exciting.”

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Image credit: Marcin Wichary