Description du projet
Un traitement basé sur les nanoparticules de la douleur neuropathique
La douleur neuropathique chronique, qui découle de dommages nerveux ou d’une défaillance du système nerveux, touche 60 millions de personnes dans le monde. Dans la mesure où les antalgiques actuels ne présentent qu’une efficacité limitée, il est souhaitable de développer de nouvelles thérapies. Le projet PIANO, financé par l’UE, propose une administration localement ciblée dans les ganglions rachidiens (GR) pour optimiser la prise en charge de la douleur et permettre de suivre les changements de transmission de la douleur dans des conditions de douleur neuropathique. PIANO met l’accent sur les mécanismes de la douleur au niveau des GR qui contiennent des corps cellulaires de neurones spécialisés, qui transmettent des signaux nocifs de la périphérie jusqu’au système nerveux central, où la douleur est ressentie. Les chercheurs identifieront les GR impliqués dans la signalisation de la douleur à l’aide de nanoparticules ciblées permettant de visualiser la douleur et l’inflammation, ainsi que l’administration de composés analgésiques.
Objectif
Chronic pain is a debilitating disease, which affects approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide, and of those, approximately
4% suffer from neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is often described as a shooting or burning pain that can come and then
disappear but equally it may become chronic, where the pain may become unrelenting and severe. It often is the result of
nerve damage or a malfunctioning nervous system. Additionally there is the impact upon society where the costs related to
disability allowance, treatment, lost wages and productivity impacts the economy. Current treatments for chronic pain are not
fully reliable and there is a severe lack of tools to diagnose or visualise the pain process within the dorsal root ganglia
(DRG). Humans have 62 DRGs which are the first relay stations in the pain pathway. Local targeted treatment at the level of
those DRGs involved in the pain process is the solution to circumvent side effects and optimise treatment. We aim to identify
involved DRGs by visualising cells or molecules in the DRG which are directly or indirectly associated with the generation of
pain. We will use a novel method of nanoparticles targeted towards pain-associated cells or molecules in the DRG. A vast
amount of neuropathic pain studies have shown an eminent infiltration of macrophages into affected DRGs. These
nanoparticles will be specifically designed to target initially the macrophages in the DRG, encapsulating both therapeutic
payloads and imaging contrast reagents to monitor pain-associated activities. The goal of PIANO is therefore to facilitate a
state-of-art approach to visualisation of neuropathic pain / inflammation at DRG sites as well as to simultaneously release
analgesic molecules from the nanoparticles.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Coordinateur
WC2R 2LS London
Royaume-Uni