Molecular methods for neuropathic pain treatment.

Pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system is defined as neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain has a great impact on the quality of life. It is debilitating and often has an associated degree of depression that contributes to decreasing human wellbeing. In the USA, it has been estimated that about four million people are afflicted by chronic pain each year. Almost all the patients with spinal cord injuries show neuropathic pain problems. Moreover, the management of chronic pain is costly to the health care system. The United States Congress has declared the present decade as the 'Decade of Pain Control and Research.' Neuropathic pain treatment is extremely difficult. Current available therapeutics have a generalized nature, sometime they act on the temporal pain properties rather than targeting the several mechanisms underlying the generation and propagation of pain. Brand new molecular methods, such as gene therapy, stem cell therapy and viral vectors for delivery of biologic antinociceptive molecules, could offer a new therapeutic approach to the treatment of neuropathic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]