For millions of sufferers, there is nothing more debilitating than chronic back or joint pain. It can feel like a lifetime of misery.
But researchers led by University of Utah bioengineering assistant professor Robby Bowles have discovered a way to curb chronic pain by modulating genes that reduce tissue- and cell-damaging inflammation.
“This has applications for many inflammatory-driven diseases,” Bowles says. “It could be applied for arthritis or to therapeutic cells that are being delivered to inflammatory environments that need to be protected from inflammation.”
The team’s discovery was published in a new paper this month, “CRISPR-Based Epigenome Editing of Cytokine Receptors for the Promotion of Cell Survival and Tissue Deposition in Inflammatory Environments,” in a special issue of Tissue Engineering. University of Utah bioengineering doctoral student, Niloofar Farhang, co-authored the study, which is a collaborative project between the University of Utah, Duke University and Washington University in St. Louis.
In chronic back pain, for example, slipped or herniated discs are a result of damaged tissue when inflammation causes cells to create molecules that break down tissue. Typically, inflammation is nature’s way of alerting the immune system to repair tissue or tackle infection. But chronic inflammation can instead lead to tissue degeneration and pain.
Bowles’ team is using the CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat) system — new technology of modifying human genetics — to stop cell death and keep the cells from producing molecules that damage tissue and result in chronic pain. But it doesn’t do this by editing or replacing genes, which is what CRISPR tools are typically used for. Instead, it modulates the way genes turn on and off in order to protect cells from inflammation and thus breaking down tissue.
“So they won’t respond to inflammation. It disrupts this chronic inflammation pattern that leads to tissue degeneration and pain,” Bowles says. “We’re not changing what is in your genetic code. We’re altering what is expressed. Normally, cells do this themselves, but we are taking engineering control over these cells to tell them what to turn on and turn off.”
Now that researchers know they can do this, doctors will be able to modify the genes via an injection directly to the affected area and delay the degeneration of tissue. In the case of back pain, a patient may get a discectomy to remove part of a herniated disc to relieve the pain, but tissue near the spinal cord may continue to breakdown, leading to future pain. This method could stave off additional surgeries by stopping the tissue damage.
“The hope is that this stops degeneration in its tracks, and the patient could avoid any future surgeries,” Bowles says. “But it’s patient to patient. Some might still need surgery, but it could delay it.”
So far, the team has developed a virus that can deliver the gene therapy and has filed a patent on the system. They hope to proceed to human trials after collecting initial data, but Bowles believes it could be about 10 years before this method is used in patients.
Learn more: UNIVERSITY OF UTAH ENGINEERS USE CRISPR TECHNOLOGY TO PREVENT TISSUE DAMAGE AND RESULTING CHRONIC PAIN
[osd_subscribe categories=’chronic-pain’ placeholder=’Email Address’ button_text=’Subscribe Now for any new posts on the topic “CHRONIC PAIN”‘]
The Latest on: Chronic pain
[google_news title=”” keyword=”chronic pain” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Chronic pain
- Chronic Pain Clinical Trials Underrepresent Older Age, Race, and Ethnicityon May 6, 2024 at 4:38 am
Researchers evaluated US chronic pain trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov to determine their frequency of reporting the older age, race, ethnicity, and sex of participants.
- Dr. Zorba Paster: Remove marijuana's stigma to relieve painon May 5, 2024 at 3:30 am
The feds, moving at a glacial pace, are considering moving marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug. That would be a step forward so we can finally study this and see how well it might work for pain, ...
- Couple struggles to come to terms with chronic painon May 4, 2024 at 12:00 am
Stanley is the author of Fallen: A Trauma, a Marriage, and the Transformative Power of Music and the novel Ghost Warning. Paradis is a musician who was severely injured in a fall in 2008. After a long ...
- I was angry, aggressive and in chronic pain – then a party drug changed everythingon May 3, 2024 at 4:01 pm
For years, the father-of-five – who still lives with chronic pain – was grumpy and unpredictable; prone to rages by day and drinking each night. ‘I neglected my mental health for a really long time,’ ...
- I was angry, aggressive and in chronic pain - until a party drug changed everythingon May 3, 2024 at 4:01 pm
Continue reading For years, the father-of-five – who still lives with chronic pain – was grumpy and unpredictable; prone to rages by day and drinking each night. ‘I neglected my mental health for a ...
- Boost Cold Pain Tolerance to Reduce Long-Term, Moderate to Severe Chronic Pain?on May 3, 2024 at 6:48 am
In surveying a subset of participants from the population-based Tromsø Study in Norway, researchers investigated whether tolerance to painful coldness mediates the effect of leisure-time physical ...
- ‘Don’t give up hope’: FIT Physical Therapy promotes healing for life with chronic pain programon April 27, 2024 at 8:03 am
Did you know that over 50 million people nationwide (about 20% of adults) suffer from chronic pain? America has a pain crisis, and it’s only getting worse. Enter the skilled and caring experts at FIT ...
- A Predictive Healthcare Visionary Is Optimistic About Solving America’s Opioid Addiction And Chronic Pain Epidemicon April 26, 2024 at 2:20 pm
Studies found that Chronic pain is more prevalent and costly than cancer, diabetes, and heart disease combined, and its rates are rising even as other chronic ...
- Scientists Make Breakthrough in Chronic Pain Treatmenton April 26, 2024 at 7:53 am
Scientists have developed tiny robotic nerve "cuffs" to diagnose and treat neurological disorders. The flexible devices offer a safer, minimally invasive alternative to today's diagnostics and could ...
via Bing News