Potential pain treatment’s mechanism deciphered
Cells from bone marrow give long-term relief to mice with nerve damage
Scientists think they have a new understanding of a potential long-lasting, targeted treatment for chronic pain.
When injected into the spinal cord of a mouse with nerve damage, cells extracted from mouse bone marrow flock to injured cells and produce a pain-relieving protein, researchers report July 13 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The results may lead to better chronic pain treatments in humans.
The specialized cells homed in on their ultimate destination by following chemical signals released by the injured nerve cells. There, the injected cells produced an anti-inflammatory protein, called transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1), which provided long-term pain relief. Researchers had known that the marrow cells relieved pain, but didn’t know how, says study coauthor Ru-Rong Ji, a neurobiologist at Duke University Medical Center.