Migraine, skin irritation, jaw and abdominal pain … These are, among others, the objectives of a new drug whose efficacy in its preliminary trials has surprised experts from Duke University (United States), whose work has just been published in the journal Scientific Reports .
The team’s initial goal was to investigate a substance capable of blocking the TRPV4 protein , which transmits skin irritation generated by the sun and painful sensations in the head and face. Although the Duke scientists had already developed a therapeutic prototype in 2009, they were now trying to improve its effects. And they succeeded: the drug dubbed “16-8” was ten times more effective in cells, with active TRPV4, which play an important role in the development of osteoarthritis, damage to nerve cells, strokes and epilepsy .
But what they didn’t expect is that it would also block another substance directly linked to pain, called TRPA1 , from the same family as TRPV4 (the TRP group of ion channels).
“I quickly realized the enormous clinical potential of this compound by its action on two molecules at the same time, ” explained Wolfgang Liedtke, professor of neurology, anesthesiology and neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine.
The researchers also found that 16-8 significantly alleviated, for example, the suffering of mice suffering from the very painful pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas. Liedtke believes that the new therapeutic molecule could be used, in general, against all complaints from internal organs or as a result of damage to nerve cells.
