The main cause of chronic pain is named
Geneticists from Drexel University have found out how a single molecule can change a person's feelings, causing either chronic pain or, conversely, insensitivity to it. The discovery will help to develop methods of treating patients with injuries of the nervous system. Article by Manners et al. Genome-wide redistribution of MeCP2 in dorsal root ganglia after peripheral nerve injury is published in the journal Epigenetics & Chromatin.
The MeSP2 protein is an epigenetic factor, in other words, it changes the activity of genes by attaching to specific DNA sites. The main function of the protein is to ensure the proper development of the child's brain by turning off several genes at a certain time. However, if a mutation of the protein-coding gene occurs, the work of MeCP2 will be disrupted, resulting in Rett syndrome. The disease, which most often affects girls, can cause a decrease in sensitivity to pain, so scientists have suggested that MeSP2 plays a role in the formation of pain.
Experts believe that nerve damage causes changes in the activity of MeSP2, which, in turn, regulates a large number of genes responsible for the occurrence of pain. The hypothesis would help explain the mechanisms of chronic pain, which affects more than 20 percent of the world's population, as well as develop ways to treat it.
Geneticists have studied the work of MeSP2 in the cells of the spinal ganglion of mice with damage to the peripheral nervous system. They identified the DNA regions that the protein binds to before and after the injury. It turned out that MeSP2, when nerves are damaged, begins to regulate the activity of many other genes that ultimately cause chronic pain.
Since MeSP2 is involved in many important processes, it is not possible to change its activity for the treatment of chronic pain. Instead, the scientists plan to determine which genes, which are affected by MeSP2, lead to pain.
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22.06.2016