Gene Therapy for Chronic Back Pain?

Researchers at the Departments of Medicine and Neurosciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have been exploring the use of gene therapy for its analgesic effects on chronic pain. While their experiments are still confined to rats, they did discover that by injecting different types of pain killing genes into very specific areas on nerve cells – areas designed to receive opiate type molecules, and called receptors – they could keep symptoms at bay for three months with only one injection. The researchers hope that someday their results can be turned into medications for chronic pain that confer benefits while avoiding the unwanted side effects.

One of the keys to getting the procedure to work in the experiement was the development of what they call a "viral vector", basically a transportation system that carries the gene to its target on the nerve cell. Gene therapy uses (transformed versions of) actual viruses, because they are great at sealing off the substance they carry, and delivering it to the cell. The researchers injected the gene and the vector into the spinal fluid of the rats by means of lumbar puncture.

According to Mt. Sinai press materials, 50 million people in the US suffer from chronic pain.

|Persistent Pain | Analgesic |Opiates |