Potential new way to treat chronic pain is using anti-cancer drugs: Study

Jun 19, 2022

New Delhi, June 19 (ANI): A potential new way to treat chronic pain is using anti-cancer drugs rather than opioid-based pain medication, reveals a new study by the University of Calgary. Researchers identified the existence of a molecule in the nervous system that enhances sensitivity to pain. This molecule had previously been thought to play a role in cancer growth but had never been reported in the nervous system. By targeting this molecule, it may now be possible to use already existing anti-cancer drugs to block pain. By analysing a large number of genes important in the transmission of pain information to the brain, principal investigator Dr. Christophe Altier, PhD, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Inflammatory Pain, and his team have identified the existence of a molecule in the nervous system that enhances sensitivity to pain. This molecule had previously been thought to play a role in cancer growth but had never been reported in the nervous system. It may now be possible to use already existing anti-cancer drugs to block pain.