RESEARCH - Scientists uncover Achilles' heel of chronic inflammatory pain

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Scientists Uncover Achilles Heel Of Chronic Inflammatory Pain

MedicalNewsToday.com

Article Date: 18 Aug 2010 - 1:00 PDT

Researchers have made a discovery that could lead to a brand new class

of drugs to treat chronic pain caused by inflammatory conditions such

as arthritis and back pain without numbing the whole body.

The team, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research

Council (BBSRC) and working at UCL (University College London), have

shown for the first time that genes involved in chronic pain are

regulated by molecules inside cells called small RNAs. This mechanism

is so different from what has already been discovered about the

biology underpinning pain that it could be the Achilles heel of

chronic inflammatory pain, which is notoriously difficult to treat.

The research appears in The Journal of Neuroscience.

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