疼痛的表观遗传调控机制及镇痛药物研发的新靶点

Epigenetic Mechanism of Chronic Pain and New Targets for the Development of Analgesic Drugs

慢性疼痛是一种疾病,其病因复杂、发生发展机制尚未明确,临床上尚缺乏有效的治疗手段。表观遗传调控与慢性疼痛的发生存在相关性。深入研究表观遗传调控组分与慢性疼痛的关系,寻找参与疼痛发生发展和药物治疗效果密切相关的表观遗传特定酶类与生物标志物,将有助于相关治疗新靶点的获得和新型镇痛药物的研发。综述表观遗传修饰即DNA甲基化与去甲基化、组蛋白乙酰化与去乙酰化、组蛋白甲基化及非编码RNA等,参与疼痛调控过程的研究进展,以期为临床疼痛药物研发提供可能的靶标分子。

Effective treatment of chronic pain is still lacking due to its complex pathogenesis and unelucidated mechanism. A strong connection between epigenetic regulation and chronic pain has been established recently. In-depth investigation on the effect of epigenetic regulatory factors on the pain process, and findings in epigenetie-related enzymes and biomarkers will help with the discovery of new therapeutic targets and development of new analgesics. Here, we reviewed the research progress in the involvement of epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation and demethylation, histone acetylation and deacetylation, histone methylation, and noncoding RNA, in the modulation of pain process, so as to provide possible target molecules for the development of clinical analgesics.