Highlights
- •Translational efforts can be facilitated by investigations of human nervous system tissues.
- •Putative preclinical analgesic targets must be expressed in the relevant human cells.
- •Establishing human relevance enhances the value of mechanistic animal studies.
- •Multi-omic databases of human tissue data are growing rapidly.
- •Human tissue investigations require sustained research support and planning.
Abstract
The strong need for a new foundational molecular framework for human nervous system
research at the nociceptive level is now matched by comprehensive and quantitative
capabilities for analyzing nociceptive tissues such as pathologic peripheral tissue,
damaged peripheral nerve, dorsal root ganglia, spinal cord, and brain, where possible.
However, this idea must be matched by equally strong organization and infrastructures
for multisite tissue recovery, molecular analyses, data sharing, and long-term archiving.
Experience from other human tissue analysis projects shows that a decades-long activity
may be expected, hence “Be in it for the long haul.” While certain milestones can
be met fairly quickly, others aimed at molecular and neuroanatomical characterization
of chronic pain disorders will require the sustained attention of the groups involved.
This can yield a valuable addition to basic and translational pain research and the
development of new treatments whose targets are validated directly in humans.
Perspective
A concerted effort is needed to build human nociceptive tissue banks for multi-omic
research. In addition to collecting tissue, a careful characterization of pain problems
from donors is essential, as is a parallel effort to assess their concurrent medical
problems, medications, and the many variables of general human activity and lifestyle
that can impact the results. Given the projected long time frame, in addition to maintaining
funding, sustaining motivation and momentum are critical factors for success.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 29, 2022
Footnotes
Disclosures: This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center. This work was also supported by a funds from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (1ZIAAT000017-03), and the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc.
