P2X7 Receptor (P2X7R) is a calcium-permeable ion channel that is gaining interest as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of different diseases including inflammation, pain, psychiatric disorders and cancer.
These data suggested that the up-regulation of P2X7Rs mediates microglial activation in the spinal dorsal horn, and therefore contributes to the development of BmK I-induced pain.
Taken together, these data demonstrate the important contribution of P2X7 receptors to ATP-driven activation of mast cells, suggesting these purinergic mechanisms as potential triggers of neuroinflammation and pain sensitization in migraine.
Moreover, the patients carrying GA and AA genotypes needed more fentanyl to control pain within 48 hours after surgery (P < .05 for all).P2RX7 gene rs1718125 polymorphism is significantly associated with postoperative pain and fentanyl consumption in patients with lung cancer.
To further test its role in pain sensitivity, we examined whether variation within the P2RX7 gene, which encodes the P2X7 receptor, was associated with experimentally induced pain in human patients.
Thus, site-specific regulation of P2X7R function mediated by Y<sub>382-384</sub> is a novel cellular determinant of the microglial response to morphine that critically underlies the development of morphine analgesic tolerance.<b>SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT</b> Controlling pain is one of the most difficult challenges in medicine and its management is a requirement of a large diversity of illnesses.
Neuron-microglia crosstalk, mediated by the purinergic P2X7 receptor (R)/fractalkine/CX3CR1 cascade in the spinal cord dorsal horn, plays a pivotal role in pain processing.
Our present results confirm the physiological relevance of some of the SNPs in the P2RX7 gene and show that the presence of these genetic variants correlates with pain sensitivity also in a diabetic neuropathic pain patient population.
Thus, the present study examined associations between fentanyl sensitivity and polymorphisms in the P2RX7 gene in 355 Japanese patients who underwent painful orofacial cosmetic surgery.
Moreover, in two independent human chronic pain cohorts, a cohort with pain after mastectomy and a cohort with osteoarthritis, we observed a genetic association between lower pain intensity and the hypofunctional His270 (rs7958311) allele of P2RX7.
Therefore, P2X7R antagonists emerge as novel therapeutics for the treatment for acute inflammation, pain and fever, with wider anti-inflammatory activity than currently used cyclooxygenase inhibitors.-Barberà-Cremades, M., Baroja-Mazo, A., Gomez, A. I., Machado, F., Di Virgilio, F., Pelegrín, P. P2X7 receptor-stimulation causes fever via PGE2 and IL-1β release.