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Pando M, Yang R, Dimitrov G, Chavez R, Garza T, Trevino AV, Gautam A, Stark TR, Hammamieh R, Clifford J, Sosanya NM. Identifying Stress-Exacerbated Thermal-Injury Induced MicroRNAs. THE JOURNAL OF PAIN 2023; 24:2294-2308. [PMID: 37468024 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Using a model of combat and operational stress reaction (COSR), our lab recently showed that exposure to an unpredictable combat stress (UPCS) procedure prior to a thermal injury increases pain sensitivity in male rats. Additionally, our lab has recently shown that circulating extracellular vesicle-microRNAs (EV-miRNAs), which normally function to suppress inflammation, were downregulated in a male rat model of neuropathic pain. In this current study, male and female rats exposed to UPCS, followed by thermal injury, were evaluated for changes in circulating EV-miRNAs. Adult female and male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to a UPCS procedure for either 2 or 4 weeks. Groups consisted of the following: nonstress (NS), stress (S), NS + thermal injury (TI), and S + TI. Mechanical sensitivity was measured, and plasma was collected at baseline, throughout the UPCS exposure, and post-thermal injury. EV-miRNA isolation was performed, followed by small RNA sequencing and subsequent data analysis. UPCS exposure alone resulted in mechanical allodynia in both male and female rats at specific time points. Thermal-injury induction occurring at peak UPCS resulted in increased mechanical allodynia in the injured hind paw compared to thermal injury alone. Differential expression of the EV-miRNAs was observed between the NS and S groups as well as between NS + TI and S + TI groups. Consistent differences in EV-miRNAs are detectable in both COSR as well as during the development of mechanical sensitivity and potentially serve as key regulators, biomarkers, and targets in the treatment of COSR and thermal-injury induced mechanical sensitivity. PERSPECTIVE: This article presents the effects of unpredictable combat stress and thermal injury on EV-contained microRNAs in an animal model. These same mechanisms may exist in clinical patients and could be future prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miryam Pando
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Ruoting Yang
- Medical Readiness Systems Biology Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland
| | - George Dimitrov
- Medical Readiness Systems Biology Branch, The Geneva Foundation, Tacoma, Washington
| | - Roger Chavez
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Thomas Garza
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Alex V Trevino
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Aarti Gautam
- Medical Readiness Systems Biology Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland
| | - Thomas R Stark
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Rasha Hammamieh
- Medical Readiness Systems Biology Branch, The Geneva Foundation, Tacoma, Washington
| | - John Clifford
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Natasha M Sosanya
- US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), JBSA Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
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Przybylowicz PK, Sokolowska KE, Rola H, Wojdacz TK. DNA Methylation Changes in Blood Cells of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients. J Pain Res 2023; 16:4025-4036. [PMID: 38054109 PMCID: PMC10695140 DOI: 10.2147/jpr.s439412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose Fibromyalgia (FM) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) affect 0.4% and 1% of society, respectively, and the prevalence of these pain syndromes is increasing. To date, no strong association between these syndromes and the genetic background of affected individuals has been shown. Therefore, it is plausible that epigenetic changes might play a role in the development of these syndromes. Patients and Methods Three previous studies have attempted to elaborate the involvement of genome-wide methylation changes in blood cells in the development of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. These studies included 22 patients with fibromyalgia and 127 patients with CFS, and the results of the studies were largely discrepant. Contradicting results of those studies may be attributed to differences in the omics data analysis approaches used in each study. We reanalyzed the data collected in these studies using an updated and coherent data-analysis framework. Results Overall, the methylation changes that we observed overlapped with previous results only to some extent. However, the gene set enrichment analyses based on genes annotated to methylation changes identified in each of the analyzed datasets were surprisingly coherent and uniformly associated with the physiological processes that, when affected, may result in symptoms characteristic of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Conclusion Methylomes of the blood cells of patients with FM and CFS in three independent studies have shown methylation changes that appear to be implicated in the pathogenesis of these syndromes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hubert Rola
- Independent Clinical Epigenetics Laboratory, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland
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Reddy D, Wickman JR, Ajit SK. Epigenetic regulation in opioid induced hyperalgesia. NEUROBIOLOGY OF PAIN (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 14:100146. [PMID: 38099284 PMCID: PMC10719581 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynpai.2023.100146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
About 25 million American adults experience pain daily and one of the most commonly prescribed drugs to treat pain are opioids. Prolonged opioid usage and dose escalations can cause a paradoxical response where patients experience enhanced pain sensitivity. This opioid induced hyperalgesia (OIH) is a major hurdle when treating pain in the clinic because its underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. OIH is also commonly overlooked and lacks guidelines to prevent its onset. Research on pain disorders and opioid usage have recognized potential epigenetic drivers of disease including DNA methylation, histone modifications, miRNA regulation, but their involvement in OIH has not been well studied. This article discusses epigenetic changes that may contribute to pathogenesis, with an emphasis on miRNA alterations in OIH. There is a crucial gap in knowledge including how multiple epigenetic modulators contribute to OIH. Elucidating the epigenetic changes underlying OIH and the crosstalk among these mechanisms could lead to the development of novel targets for the prevention and treatment of this painful phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepa Reddy
- Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 North 15th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
| | - Jason R. Wickman
- Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 North 15th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
| | - Seena K. Ajit
- Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 North 15th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
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Dysregulation of Serum MicroRNA after Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Aged Mice. Biomedicines 2023; 11:biomedicines11030822. [PMID: 36979801 PMCID: PMC10044892 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11030822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Stroke is one of the most common diseases that leads to brain injury and mortality in patients, and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the most devastating subtype of stroke. Though the prevalence of ICH increases with aging, the effect of aging on the pathophysiology of ICH remains largely understudied. Moreover, there is no effective treatment for ICH. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of circulating microRNAs as non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in various pathological conditions. While many studies have identified microRNAs that play roles in the pathophysiology of brain injury, few demonstrated their functions and roles after ICH. Given this significant knowledge gap, the present study aims to identify microRNAs that could serve as potential biomarkers of ICH in the elderly. To this end, sham or ICH was induced in aged C57BL/6 mice (18–24 months), and 24 h post-ICH, serum microRNAs were isolated, and expressions were analyzed. We identified 28 significantly dysregulated microRNAs between ICH and sham groups, suggesting their potential to serve as blood biomarkers of acute ICH. Among those microRNAs, based on the current literature, miR-124-3p, miR-137-5p, miR-138-5p, miR-219a-2-3p, miR-135a-5p, miR-541-5p, and miR-770-3p may serve as the most promising blood biomarker candidates of ICH, warranting further investigation.
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Du H, Wu D, Zhong S, Wei X, Yuan Z, Gong Q. MiR-106b-5p Attenuates Neuropathic Pain by Regulating the P2X4 Receptor in the Spinal Cord in Mice. J Mol Neurosci 2022; 72:1764-1778. [PMID: 35699833 DOI: 10.1007/s12031-022-02011-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/02/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The P2X4 receptor (P2X4R) can be upregulated after nerve injury, and its mediated spinal microglial activation makes a critical contribution to pathologically enhanced pain processing in the dorsal horn. Although some studies have partly clarified the mechanism underlying altered P2X4R expression, the specific mechanism is not well understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs which control gene expression by binding with their target mRNAs. Thus, in the present study, we investigated whether miRNA is involved in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain by regulating P2X4R. Our results showed that P2X4R was upregulated in the spinal dorsal horn of mice following spared nerve injury (SNI), and 69 miRNAs (46 upregulated and 23 downregulated miRNAs) were differentially expressed (fold change > 2.0, P < 0.05). P2X4R was found to be a major target of miR-106b-5p (one of the downregulated miRNAs) using bioinformatics technology; quantitative real-time PCR analysis confirmed the change in expression of miR-106b-5p, and dual-luciferase reporter assays confirmed the correlation between them. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to show cell co-localization of P2X4R and miR-106b-5p in the spinal dorsal horn. Transfection with miR-106b-5p mimic into BV2 cells reversed the upregulation of P2X4R induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Moreover, miR-106b-5p overexpression significantly attenuated neuropathic pain induced by SNI, with decreased expression of P2X4R mRNA and protein in the spinal dorsal horn; intrathecal miR-106b-5p antagomir induced pain behaviors, and increased expression of P2X4R in the spinal dorsal horn of naïve mice. These data suggest that miR-106b-5p can serve as an important regulator of neuropathic pain development by targeting P2X4R.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huiying Du
- Department of Pain Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, GuangzhouGuangdong, 510260, China.,Department of Anesthesiology, Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, GuangzhouGuangdong, 511442, China
| | - Danlei Wu
- Department of Pain Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, GuangzhouGuangdong, 510260, China
| | - Shuotao Zhong
- Department of Pain Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, GuangzhouGuangdong, 510260, China
| | - Xuhong Wei
- Department of Physiology and Pain Research Center, ZhongshanMedicalSchool, Sun Yat-Sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd. 2, GuangzhouGuangdong, 510080, China
| | - Zhongmin Yuan
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qingjuan Gong
- Department of Pain Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, GuangzhouGuangdong, 510260, China.
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Maixner D, Christy D, Kong L, Viatchenko-Karpinski V, Horner A, Hooks S, Weng HR. Phytohormone abscisic acid ameliorates neuropathic pain via regulating LANCL2 protein abundance and glial activation at the spinal cord. Mol Pain 2022; 18:17448069221107781. [PMID: 35647699 PMCID: PMC9248043 DOI: 10.1177/17448069221107781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Spinal neuroinflammation plays a critical role in the genesis of neuropathic
pain. Accumulating data suggest that abscisic acid (ABA), a phytohormone,
regulates inflammatory processes in mammals. In this study, we found that
reduction of the LANCL2 receptor protein but not the agonist ABA in the spinal
cord is associated with the genesis of neuropathic pain. Systemic or intrathecal
administration of ABA ameliorates the development and pre-existence of
mechanical allodynia and heat hyperalgesia in animals with partial sciatic nerve
ligation (pSNL). LANCL2 is expressed only in microglia in the spinal dorsal
horn. Pre-emptive treatment with ABA attenuates activation of microglia and
astrocytes, ERK activity, and TNFα protein abundance in the dorsal horn in rats
with pSNL. These are accompanied by restoration of spinal LANCL2 protein
abundance. Spinal knockdown of LANCL2 gene with siRNA recapitulates the
behavioral and spinal molecular changes induced by pSNL. Activation of spinal
toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) with lipopolysaccharide leads to activation of
microglia, and over production of TNFα, which are concurrently accompanied by
suppression of protein levels of LANCL2 and peroxisome proliferator
activated-receptor γ. These changes are ameliorated when ABA is added with LPS.
The anti-inflammatory effects induced by ABA do not requires Gi
protein activity. Our study reveals that the ABA/LANCL2 system is a powerful
endogenous system regulating spinal neuroinflammation and nociceptive
processing, suggesting the potential utility of ABA as the management of
neuropathic pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan Maixner
- Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences15506University of Georgia College of Pharmacy
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Han-Rong Weng
- Basic Sciences436933California Northstate University
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