Ignatowski TA, Spengler RN. Targeting tumor necrosis factor in the brain relieves neuropathic pain. World J Anesthesiol 2018; 7(2): 10-19 [DOI: 10.5313/wja.v7.i2.10]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Tracey A Ignatowski, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 955 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States. tai1@buffalo.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Anesthesiology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Anesthesiol. Jul 27, 2018; 7(2): 10-19 Published online Jul 27, 2018. doi: 10.5313/wja.v7.i2.10
Targeting tumor necrosis factor in the brain relieves neuropathic pain
Tracey A Ignatowski, Robert N Spengler
Tracey A Ignatowski, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences and Program for Neuroscience, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States
Tracey A Ignatowski, Robert N Spengler, NanoAxis, LLC, Clarence, NY 14031, United States
Author contributions: Ignatowski TA initiated the literature review; Ignatowski TA and Spengler RN equally contributed to the writing and revision of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Tracey A Ignatowski and Robert N Spengler have served as unpaid expert witnesses for the Institute of Neurological Recovery (INR), a medical practice that utilizes perispinal etanercept and trains physicians in its use as a therapeutic modality. Tracey Ignatowski and Robert Spengler’s professional activities include their work as Co-Directors of Neuroscience at NanoAxis, LLC, a company formed to foster the commercial development of products and applications in the field of nanomedicine that include novel methods of inhibiting TNF. This article represents the authors’ own work in which NanoAxis, LLC was not involved.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Tracey A Ignatowski, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 955 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States. tai1@buffalo.edu
Telephone: +1-716-8293102 Fax: +1-716-8292725
Received: March 27, 2018 Peer-review started: April 12, 2018 First decision: May 3, 2018 Revised: May 28, 2018 Accepted: June 2, 2018 Article in press: June 2, 2018 Published online: July 27, 2018
Core Tip
Core tip: Chronic pain is a widespread health problem. Current treatments, including opioids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are inadequate as they lack sufficient efficacy, produce numerous side effects and hold the potential for addiction. Preclinical studies show that elevated brain tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels during chronic pain are a novel target for producing analgesia. TNF can be practically targeted by non-invasive delivery of anti-TNF biologics directly to the ventricles of the brain via a peripheral perispinal injection. Herein we discuss decreasing TNF activity in the brain as a treatment to provide a superior analgesic strategy. Animal study results indicate potential benefit for patients with treatment-resistant pain.
