Development of P2X3 Ion Channel MAbs for the Treatment of Pain

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ABSTRACT Acute and chronic pain resulting from injury, surgery, or disease afflicts >100 million Americans each year, having a severe impact on mood, mental health, and quality of life and costing the U.S. approximately $600 billion in economic costs annually. For many patients, treatment options provide inadequate relief because of the shortcomings of available therapeutics. To date, most treatments for pain have been small molecule compounds that block the activity of select ion channels or other pain receptors, but these therapeutics often result in side-effects caused by off-target binding or suffer from poor bioavailability. These limitations have prompted renewed searches for novel targets for the treatment of pain and novel types of inhibitors capable of achieving the specificity and bioavailability needed for a successful therapeutic. The P2X3 ion channel is a primary mediator of pain triggered by ATP release, and drugs that target P2X3 could be efficacious in treating chronic pain. Here we propose to develop MAbs targeting the ion channel P2X3 for the treatment of neuropathic and inflammatory pain.