Blood Pressure Drugs May Treat Chronic Pain, Study

A new study has opened up the possibility that existing drugs for high blood pressure could also be used to treat chronic pain.

AsianScientist (Dec. 24, 2012) – A new study has opened up the possibility that existing drugs for high blood pressure could also be used to treat chronic pain.

The international team, comprising of researchers from King’s College London, Pfizer, and BGI-Shenzhen in China, explored the genetic variation in a population relating to pain sensitivity.

Pain that lasts for six months or longer is generally called chronic pain. Chronic pain is a significant personal and socio-economic burden, with nearly one in five people experiencing it at some point in their lives.

Current pain treatments have either limited efficacy or significant side effects, and here the researchers studied the genetic mechanisms of pain in the hope of developing new approaches to pain relief.

In the study, published online in the journal PLoS Genetics, the researchers determined the pain thresholds of 2,500 volunteers by placing a heated probe on their arm. The volunteers were asked to press a button when the heat became uncomfortable for them.

Exome sequencing was then carried out on DNA samples from 200 of the most pain sensitive and 200 of the least pain sensitive people. Comparison between the two groups showed significantly different patterns in the rare variants of 138 genes.

Additionally, in the most pain sensitive group, there was a significant enrichment of genes in the angiotensin pathway, such as angiotensin II, a peptide hormone involved in the control of blood pressure.

The results suggest that the angiotensin pathway plays an important role in pain regulation in humans and indicates that genetic variation in the pathway may influence sensitivity to pain. Existing drugs that regulate blood pressure may offer new and safe methods to control pain, the researchers say.

“This finding is exciting because it opens up the possibility that existing drugs for high blood pressure could also be used to treat pain. Further studies are needed to test this in humans, but early studies in this area are promising,” said Dr. Frances Williams, Senior Lecturer at King’s College London, who was the lead author on the study.

The article can be found at: Williams FMK et al. (2012) Genes Contributing to Pain Sensitivity in the Normal Population: An Exome Sequencing Study.

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Source: BGI; Photo: Spanish Flea/Flickr/CC.
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