Peripherally Acting Analgesic for Osteoarthritis Pain

首席调查员/项目主任(最后、第一、中间：陈日东 项目摘要 超过2500万美国人患有慢性疼痛。近几十年来，由于缺乏其他有效的 在治疗方面，人们过度依赖阿片类药物，尽管它们改善功能的能力很差。这有 造成阿片类药物过量死亡和成瘾的严重和令人震惊的流行。 骨关节炎(OA)是最常见的退行性关节疾病，在65岁以上的人群中有34%的人患病。 美国有近2700万人。骨性关节炎患者的主要症状是疼痛。 关节软骨严重受损。由于目前还没有疾病修饰剂，止痛药是 是治疗的主要手段，但往往效果有限，并可能导致重伤和死亡。 我们设计并优化了一种以蛋白质为基础的长效止痛药。这种疗法将带来强大的力量 疗效不会引起明显的副作用，因为它最好针对发炎的组织，并且只激活 感觉神经元或免疫细胞上的外周和阿片受体。在建议的研究中，我们会 在已建立的大鼠骨性关节炎疼痛模型中，评估候选专利药物的剂量反应。我们 还将确定在健康大鼠的功能观察电池测试中的潜在副作用， 以及主要器官系统的一般毒理学筛查。长期目标是开发这种药物 候选为一种安全有效的止痛疗法。每周或每两周给药会带来持续的疼痛。 缓解骨性关节炎患者疼痛，无成瘾等不良反应。

Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, First, Middle: Ridong Chen Project Summary More than 25 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. In recent decades, due to the lack of other effective treatments, there has been an overreliance on opioids despite their poor ability to improve function. This has been contributing to a significant and alarming epidemic of opioid overdose deaths and addictions. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease, affecting 34% of people over 65 years of age and nearly 27 million people in the United States. The main symptom of OA patients is pain following a significant loss of the articular cartilage. As there are currently no disease modifying agents, analgesics are the mainstay of treatment but often deliver limited efficacy and can induce serious injury and death. We have designed and optimized a protein-based and long-acting analgesic. The therapy will deliver robust efficacy without causing significant side effects as it preferably targets to inflamed tissues and only activates peripheral  and -opioid receptors on sensory neurons or immune cells. In the proposed studies, we will evaluate the dose-response of the proprietary drug candidate in a well-established rat model of OA pain. We also will determine the potential side effects in the Functional Observational Battery assays in healthy rats, along with a general toxicological screen of major organ systems. The long-term goal is to develop the drug candidate as a safe and effective analgesic therapy. Weekly or bi-weekly dosing will provide sustained pain relief for OA pain patients without addiction and other adverse side effects.