Old Experimental Cancer Drug Can Treat Chronic Pain

New research published in the journal Nature Communications has identified a potential treatment for chronic pain in an old experimental cancer drug. The research homed in on the drug by screening over a thousand different molecules in the search for one that can enhance the expression of a gene implicated in chronic pain.

Photo Insert: The study began by surveying more than 1,000 pre-existing molecules from a “junkyard of cancer drugs.”

“Because chronic pain, like many chronic diseases, has an important root in genetic switches being reprogrammed in a bad way, a disease-modifying treatment for chronic pain should reset the genetic switches, not just cover up the pain, as with opioid and aspirin/Tylenol-like painkillers,” Wolfgang Liedtke, one of the researchers working on the project, told Rich Haridy of New Atlas.

The research focused on a gene called KCC2, which encodes a molecule known to help expel chloride ions from neurons.

Low chloride levels in neurons can inhibit pain signaling and research has demonstrated reduced KCC2 expression in many forms of chronic pain. So the researchers set out to investigate whether any previously developed drugs could enhance KCC2 expression.

Because many cancer drugs influence gene expression the study began by surveying more than 1,000 pre-existing molecules from a “junkyard of cancer drugs” – experimental compounds that were mostly abandoned at different stages of research.

The research ultimately homed in on a drug called Kenpaullone, a molecule first investigated decades ago as a cancer treatment before being abandoned during preclinical research stages. Drugs with similar actions to kenpaullone are currently being trialed for Alzheimer’s disease and muscular dystrophy.

Across a series of impressive preclinical experiments, the new study demonstrated kenpaullone effectively reducing signs of pain in several animal models. As well as demonstrating this drug can relieve pain, the researchers described the likely analgesic mechanism by which kenpaullone works.

The main outcome from the research is less about demonstrating kenpaullone to be a specific future pain-relieving drug and more about discovering a new way to treat chronic pain. Kenpaullone is a type of drug known as a GSK-3 inhibitor.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic