PRF’s Top News Stories and Papers of the Week for 2016
The new year—2017!—is almost here, so it’s a good time to review the most popular news articles and papers from the past year on PRF. We used Google Analytics to identify the Top 10 most popular news stories, and the Top 10 most popular Papers of the Week, measured by page views.
Among PRF news coverage, The Long Road to Precision Pain Medicine took the top spot. This story described two trials of Nav1.7 blockers in patients with inherited erythromelalgia (IEM). One of the trials showed the pain-relieving effects of the sodium channel inhibitor carbamazepine in two IEM patients with a specific mutation in the Nav1.7 gene. The second trial reported encouraging results from five IEM patients who received a Nav1.7 antagonist called PF-05089771. At the time, Stephen Waxman, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, US, said the findings brought home two lessons. “Lesson one: Translation can be done—genomically guided personalized pain pharmacotherapy is achievable. Lesson two: It takes a lot of work.”
Among Papers of the Week, Coupled activation of primary sensory neurons contributes to chronic pain sits at number 1. As described in a related PRF news story, Xinzhong Dong, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, US, and colleagues identified a role for “neuronal coupling,” mediated by gap junctions, in DRG neurons during chronic pain, using a new technique that allows for population-level imaging of cells in genetically modified animals. “We have many visitors coming to our lab to learn the technique and collaborate,” Dong told PRF.
Here are the full lists:
Top 10 PRF News Stories in 2016 (1 Jan 2016–19 Dec 2016):
1. The Long Road to Precision Pain Medicine
From gene to drug: targeting Nav1.7 mutations in inherited erythromelalgia
10 May 2016
2. Peripheral Afferent Drive Reduced in Chronic Inflammatory Pain
Differences also emerge between young and aged mice
14 Mar 2016
3. Tracking the Natural History of Small Fiber Neuropathy
Longitudinal, case-control study points to the rate of intraepidermal nerve fiber loss as a possible diagnostic measure
18 May 2016
4. Leaving a Mark: Changes in the Epigenome During Chronic Pain
Nerve injury produces molecular footprints in spinal cord microglia in an animal model, possibly priming the cells for subsequent pain
6 Jun 2016
5. Cytokine CSF1 Identified as a Key Signal From Injured Sensory Neurons to Microglia
CSF1 released from dorsal root ganglion neurons induces microglial activation and mechanical hypersensitivity in mouse model of neuropathic pain
12 Jan 2016
6. Highlights From the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society: Part 1
Exercise may protect against subsequent neuropathic pain
26 May 2016
7. Highlights From the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society: Part 3
How plasticity creates a “pain biography”
28 Jun 2016
8. Mindfulness Effective for Chronic Low Back Pain in Clinical Trial
A second study hints at how mindfulness reduces acute pain
15 Apr 2016
9. Highlights From the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society: Part 2
APS Basic Science Shared Interest Group Dinner and Town Hall Discussion: Animal Models and Testing in Preclinical Pain Research
14 Jun 2016
10. Tiny Population of Oxytocin Neurons Controls Analgesia in Rats
Activation of parvocellular oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamus improves inflammatory pain
31 Mar 2016
Top 10 Papers of the Week (1 Jan 2016–19 Dec 2016):
1. Coupled activation of primary sensory neurons contributes to chronic pain.
Kim Y, Anderson M, Park K, Zheng Q, Agarwal A, Gong C, Gong C, Young LA, He S, LaVinka P C, Zhou F, Bergles D, Hanani M, Guan Y, Spray DC, Dong X
Neuron. 2016 Sep 7; 91(5):1085-96.
2. A novel orvinol analog, BU08028, as a safe opioid analgesic without abuse liability in primates.
Ding H, Czoty PW, Kiguchi N, Cami-Kobeci G, Sukhtankar DD, Nader MA, Husbands SM, Ko MC
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Sep 13; 113(37):E5511-8.
Shutov LP, Warwick CA, Shi X, Gnanasekaran A, Shepherd AJ, Mohapatra DP, Woodruff TM, Clark DJ, Usachev YM
J Neurosci. 2016 May 4; 36(18):5055-70.
Abdel Shaheed C, Maher CG, Williams KA, Day R, McLachlan AJ
JAMA Intern Med. 2016 Jul 1; 176(7):958-68.
5. Nociceptor sensitization depends on age and pain chronicity.
Weyer AD, Zappia KJ, Garrison SR, O’Hara CL, Dodge AK, Stucky CL
eNeuro. 2016 Jan-Feb; 3(1).
6. Persistent alterations in microglial enhancers in a model of chronic pain.
Denk F, Crow M, Didangelos A, Lopes DM, McMahon SB
Cell Rep. 2016 May 24; 15(8):1771-1781.
7. CXCL13 drives spinal astrocyte activation and neuropathic pain via CXCR5.
Jiang BC, Cao DL, Zhang X, Zhang ZJ, He LN, Li CH, Zhang WW, Wu XB, Berta T, Ji RR, Gao YJ
J Clin Invest. 2016 Feb 1; 126(2):745-761.
8. The coding of cutaneous temperature in the spinal cord.
Ran C, Hoon MA, Chen X
Nat Neurosci. 2016 Sep; 19(9):1201-9.
Eliava M, Melchior M, Knobloch-Bollmann SH, Wahis J, da Silva Gouveia M, Tang Y, Ciobanu A C, Triana Del Rio R, Roth LC, Althammer F, Chavant V, Goumon Y, Gruber T, Petit-Demoulière N, Busnelli M, Chini B, Tan LL, Mitre M, Froemke RC, Chao MV, et al.
Neuron. 2016 Mar 16; 89(6):1291-304.
Li J, Baccei ML
J Neurosci. 2016 May 11; 36(19):5405-16.
Image credit: boygointer/123RF Stock Photo.
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