1. Introduction This chapter provides an overview of the main current applications of gene therapy for chronic pain in what concerns animal studies and putative clinical applications. The value of gene therapy in unravelling neuronal brain circuits involved in pain modulation is also analysed. After alerting to the huge socioeconomic impact of chronic pain in modern societies and justifying the need to develop new avenues in pain management, we review the most common animal studies using gene therapy, which consisted on deliveries of replication-defective viral vectors at the periphery with the aim to block nociceptive transmission at the spinal cord. Departing from the data of these animal studies, we present the latest results of clinical trials using gene therapy for pain management in cancer patients. The animal studies dealing with gene delivery in pain control centres of the brain are analysed in what concerns their complexity and interest in unravelling the neurobiological mechanisms of descending pain modulation. The chapter will finish by analysing possible futures of gene therapy for chronic pain management based on the development of vectors which are safer and more specific for the different types of chronic pain. Pain is not easy to define since it is … Continue reading →

An effective vaccine for HIV has eluded researchers for several decades, due to the pathogen's infamous shape-shifting abilities. Even though researchers have identified certain broadly neutralizing antibodies that can conquer multiple strains of the human immunodeficiency virus, many strains of rapidly mutating HIV remain resistant to the these super antibodies. In recent years however,researches have proposed a new method of battling the virus that involves gene therapy. Instead of using a vaccine to stimulate the body's own immune system, so that it produces HIV antibodies, scientists are bypassing the immune system entirely. In experiments involving rats and monkeys, the researchers have used non-life-threatening viruses to alter the animals' genome so that its cells produce designer molecules capable of neutralizing HIV. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, a team of researchers said they had used the technique to protect rhesus macaques from repeated intravenous injections of a SHIV, a combination of simian immunodeficiency virus and humanimmunodeficiency virus. The technique, researchers said, "can function like an effective HIV-1 vaccine." (HIV-1 is the main family of the virus, and accounts for most infections worldwide.) When HIV enters the body, it attacks specific immune cells. As the virus copies itself over … Continue reading →

An effective vaccine for HIV has eluded researchers for several decades, due to the pathogen's infamous shape-shifting abilities. Even though researchers have identified certain broadly neutralizing antibodies that can conquer multiple strains of the human immunodeficiency virus, many strains of rapidly mutating HIV remain resistant to the these super antibodies. In recent years however,researches have proposed a new method of battling the virus that involves gene therapy. Instead of using a vaccine to stimulate the body's own immune system, so that it produces HIV antibodies, scientists are bypassing the immune system entirely. In experiments involving rats and monkeys, the researchers have used non-life-threatening viruses to alter the animals' genome so that its cells produce designer molecules capable of neutralizing HIV. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, a team of researchers said they had used the technique to protect rhesus macaques from repeated intravenous injections of a SHIV, a combination of simian immunodeficiency virus and humanimmunodeficiency virus. The technique, researchers said, "can function like an effective HIV-1 vaccine." (HIV-1 is the main family of the virus, and accounts for most infections worldwide.) When HIV enters the body, it attacks specific immune cells. As the virus copies itself over … Continue reading →