Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute Staff
Oct. 4, 2017
UCalgary researchers identify a molecule responsible for activating pain-sensing nerves
If you live in Alberta, chances are you know a child with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). An estimated 600 Canadian children are diagnosed with IBD every day, primarily Crohn鈥檚 and colitis. Among the highest number of those are under the age of five from Alberta.
鈥淎 diagnosis of IBD is fairly common here in the province; we have a significant population of children who are living with this painful disease,鈥 says Christophe Altier, PhD, a neurobiologist at the聽聽and a member of the Inflammation Research Network,聽听补苍诲听
Inflammatory bowel disease debilitating for children
There is no cure for IBD. The condition affects the digestive tract and causes chronic diarrhea, blood in the stool, and persistent abdominal pain. Even when the disease is under control, children face debilitating symptoms that impair play, school and sleep. About 20 per cent of IBD patients in remission suffer chronic pain with few therapeutic options to treat the pain.
Now Altier and his lab have found a major clue as to why IBD patients continue to have pain even when their disease is under control. The researchers found high amounts of a protein known to stimulate white blood cells in an unlikely place聽鈥斅爐he spinal cord. Identified as granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), the protein was causing pain-sensing nerve cells to be activated.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 expect to find high amounts of G-CSF in the spinal cord. It was truly a surprise for us and we quickly realized we were on to something new,鈥 says Altier.
The research team found the protein was causing a cascade of biological events in the spinal cord, where electrical pain signals are received before travelling up to the brain. The protein was sensitizing nerve cells through specialized immune cells of the nervous system called microglia.
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute Staff
Finding the path from acute to chronic pain
鈥淥nce microglia are activated, they will release chemical signals that directly amplify the electrical activity of pain-sensing nerve cells that originate in the gut,鈥 says Altier. 鈥淲e were confident we had identified a signalling mechanism that precipitates the transition from acute to persistent pain in IBD.鈥澛犅
Researchers went on to show that either removing microglial cells from the animal or inhibiting the protein blocked the pain in the animal model. The findings are published in the聽聽this month. The research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Vi Riddell Children鈥檚 Pain and Rehabilitation Program at the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute.
The findings could lead to an alternative path for treating pain associated with IBD and possibly other inflammatory disease conditions in which pain becomes chronic after the initial inflammation subsides. Dr. Morley Hollenberg, a member of the team responsible for the discovery, says, 鈥淭his research illustrates the very high impact that basic curiosity-driven research can have on surfacing new potential treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases like IBD.鈥 Hollenberg is a member of the Inflammation Research Network, the Snyder Institute and Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute.
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute staff
A network of researchers to understand inflammatory diseases
The Inflammation Research Network at the 春水堂视频 of Calgary is a large, internationally collaborative network of basic and clinical researchers centred at the Cumming School of Medicine and Faculty of Science working to understand the cause of a variety of inflammatory diseases, and their biological pathways, and to identify new therapeutic targets.聽
罢丑别听聽Research Strategy at the 春水堂视频 of Calgary aims to address the burden of these diseases to our health and the global economy.
The聽research strategy positions 春水堂视频 of Calgary researchers to unlock new discoveries and treatments for brain health in our community by working in interdisciplinary teams.