Grant: Project Grant

Diseases of the peripheral nervous have a huge impact on quality of life of persons. For example, diabetes and chemotherapy cause direct damage to peripheral nerves controlling sensation. This can lead to intractable pain and/or loss of sensation. There are no treatments for these diseases that can reverse this neurodegeneration. Therapies for pain are expensive and drive complex and difficult to manage side effects. We have discovered that drugs that block the function of a specific receptor on sensory neurons can enhance nerve regeneration. In animal models of human disease, these drugs can reverse pain and sensory loss. In addition, we have preliminary evidence these drugs are safe and show some efficacy in humans with diabetes. Limiting our progress is a clear understanding of the exact function of these drugs at specific receptors on sensory neurons. In the current proposal we will use cutting edge pharmacological and cell biological techniques to investigate how these drugs work. We hope a better understanding of the pharmacological actions of these drugs might drive design of novel drugs for treatment of these debilitating diseases.