Grant: Project Grant

The Canadian Pain Society estimates that one in five Canadians suffer from chronic pain, costing up to $60 billion a year in health care and lost productivity. Despite enormous efforts, significant advances in pain management continue to be elusive. One reason that chronic pain is resistant to treatment is that it is associated with long term biological changes that are difficult to reverse, including pathological changes in gene expression in the brain. Very little is known about how pain-related changes in gene expression are regulated. We hypothesize that they are controlled by chemical changes to the genes referred to as epigenetic modifications. Epigenetic changes can occur in response to the environment or to injury and act as a memory, altering gene expression for decades. We have previously demonstrated that chronic pain results in widespread epigenetic changes in the brain. In this study we propose to use a rodent model of chronic pain to determine the role of epigenetically-regulated genes in chronic pain and if we can target these mechanisms for the treatment of chronic pain. The research team represents a partnership between pain researchers and epigenetic experts coming together to study chronic pain in a new way. Improved understanding of the role of epigenomic modulation in chronic pain could have significant impact on the quality of life for millions of individuals currently suffering from chronic pain.