A new year is on the doorstep, but before saying goodbye to 2018, it’s a great time to look back at PRF’s coverage of pain research over the past year.
From opioid receptor expression to neuropathic pain mechanisms, from biased agonism to touch-induced itch, the 10 most popular news stories on PRF in 2018 covered the gamut of basic science. But it was a story on an International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) initiative to develop “nociplastic pain” as a so-called third mechanistic descriptor of chronic pain that took the top spot.
Other notable Top 10 appearances include a story on the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, which seeks to double NIH funding for addiction and pain research. “This is the funding we desperately need. Pain research has been woefully underfunded for years, and this is what we’ve been asking for,” said Washington University’s Rob Gereau, who was interviewed for the story. An epidemiological study examining the effects of cannabis legalization on opioid prescribing also saw its day in the Top 10 sun in 2018.
On the Papers of the Week side, the most popular paper in 2018 was “Inflammatory and Neuropathic Pain From Bench to Bedside: What Went Wrong?” Appearing in the Journal of Pain, this review article by Robert Yezierski, University of Florida, Gainesville, US, and Per Hansson, Oslo University Hospital, Norway, and Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, examined the difficulty the pain field has seen in translating basic science to the clinic. In a PRF comment on the article, Howard Fields, University of California, San Francisco, US, called it “a must read for anyone who is serious about improving pain management.” A paper from the Karolinska Institute’s Patrik Ernfors and Sten Linnarsson, which provided single cell RNA sequencing data from dorsal horn neurons, took the number two spot.
See the full Top 10 lists below—and let the pain research community know what you think about these stories and papers by leaving a comment below.
Top 10 PRF News Stories in 2018
1. What's in a Name for Chronic Pain?
“Nociplastic pain” officially adopted by IASP as third mechanistic descriptor of chronic pain
5 Feb 2018
2. Mu and Delta Opioid Receptors: Where Are They, and Do They Interact?
New study finds MOR and DOR co-expression limited to small populations of dorsal and ventral horn neurons, and that these opioid receptor subtypes function independently to regulate pain
3 May 2018
3. Neuropathic Pain Symptoms Arise From Different Mechanisms
Cold allodynia depends on TRPV1-lineage nociceptive neurons, while tactile allodynia requires immune cells likely acting on large mechanoreceptive neurons
8 Mar 2018
4. Designing Safer Opioids: How Biased Are You?
A systematic analysis of multiple mu opioid receptor agonists reveals that bias factor correlates with therapeutic window
11 Jan 2018
5. Lost in Translation: Without New Proteins, Chronic Pain Cannot Take Off
A first-in-class RNA decoy blocks PABP from attaching to messenger RNA, preventing translation and pain sensitization
21 Feb 2018
6. Could Cannabis Legalization Help Ease the Opioid Crisis?
Two recent studies show that legalization is associated with decreased opioid prescribing, but many questions remain
1 May 2018
Nanobody biosensor reveals that peptides activate opioid receptors first at the plasma membrane and then in endosomes, while drugs also propel activation in the Golgi apparatus
16 Jul 2018
8. The Kappa Opioid Receptor Takes Shape
Newly revealed structure of active state of KOR will aid in design of safer, more effective opioids
28 Feb 2018
9. NIH Announces HEAL Initiative to Combat Opioid Crisis
Pain research gets a boost in funding as part of the effort
5 Jun 2018
10. When Touch Causes Itch: A New Role for Merkel Cells in the Skin
A recent mouse study identifies cells that regulate alloknesis through Piezo2
2 Jul 2018
Top 10 Papers of the Week in 2018
1. Inflammatory and neuropathic pain from bench to bedside: What went wrong?
Yezierski RP, Hansson P
J Pain. 2018 Jun; 19(6):571-88.
Häring M, Zeisel A, Hochgerner H, Rinwa P, Jakobsson JET, Lönnerberg P, La Manno G, Sharma N, Borgius L, Kiehn O, Lagerström MC, Linnarsson S, Ernfors P
Nat Neurosci. 2018 Jun; 21(6):869-80.
3. Circuit dissection of the role of somatostatin in itch and pain.
Huang J, Polgár E, Solinski HJ, Mishra SK, Tseng PY, Iwagaki N, Boyle KA, Dickie AC, Kriegbaum MC, Wildner H, Zeilhofer HU, Watanabe M, Riddell JS, Todd AJ, Hoon MA
Nat Neurosci. 2018 May; 21(5):707-16.
Cobos EJ, Nickerson CA, Gao F, Chandran V, Bravo-Caparrós I, González-Cano R, Riva P, Andrews NA, Latremoliere A, Seehus CR, Perazzoli G, Nieto FR, Joller N, Painter MW, Ma CHE, Omura T, Chesler EJ, Geschwind DH, Coppola G, Rangachari M, et al.
Cell Rep. 2018 Jan 30; 22(5):1301-12.
5. Neuroinflammation and central sensitization in chronic and widespread pain.
Ji RR, Nackley A, Huh Y, Terrando N, Maixner W
Anesthesiology. 2018 Aug; 129(2):343-66.
6. miRNA-711 binds and activates TRPA1 extracellularly to evoke acute and chronic pruritus.
Han Q, Liu D, Convertino M, Wang Z, Jiang C, Kim Y H, Luo X, Zhang X, Nackley A, Dokholyan NV, Ji RR
Neuron. 2018 Aug 08; 99(3):449-463.e6.
7. MicroRNA-30c-5p modulates neuropathic pain in rodents.
Tramullas M, Francés R, de la Fuente R, Velategui S, Carcelén M, García R, Llorca J, Hurlé MA
Sci Transl Med. 2018 Aug 08; 10(453). pii: eaao6299.
Kragel PA, Kano M, van Oudenhove L, Ly HG, Dupont P, Rubio A, Delon-Martin C, Bonaz BL, Manuck SB, Gianaros PJ, Ceko M, Reynolds Losin EA, Woo CW, Nichols TE, Wager TD
Nat Neurosci. 2018 Feb; 21(2):283-9.
9. Kappa opioid receptor distribution and function in primary afferents.
Snyder LM, Chiang MC, Loeza-Alcocer E, Omori Y, Hachisuka J, Sheahan TD, Gale JR, Adelman PC, Sypek EI, Fulton SA, Friedman RL, Wright MC, Duque MG, Lee YS, Hu Z, Huang H, Cai X, Meerschaert KA, Nagarajan V, Hirai T, et al.
Neuron. 2018 Sep 19; 99(6):1274-88.e6.
10. Functional divergence of delta and mu opioid receptor organization in CNS pain circuits.
Wang D, Tawfik VL, Corder G, Low SA, François A, Basbaum AI, Scherrer G
Neuron. 2018 Apr 04; 98(1):90-108.e5.
Image credit: Alexander Kharchenko/123RF Stock Photo
