Medical discovery first step on path to new painkillers

Pills
01 Oct 2014 11:17:22.937
PA 250/14

A major medical discovery by scientists at The University of Nottingham could lead to the development of an entirely new type of painkiller.

A drug resulting from the research, published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, would offer new hope to sufferers of chronic pain conditions such as traumatic nerve injury, for which few effective painkillers are currently available.

The work, led by Dr Lucy Donaldson in the University’s School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with David Bates, Professor of Oncology in the University’sCancer Biology Unit, focuses on a signal protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Click here for full story
VEGF controls the re-growth of blood vessels in tissues which have been damaged by injury. It is a widely targeted compound for cancer, eye disease and other illnesses in which abnormal blood vessel growth occurs.

Drugs are used to inhibit the VEGF in cancer, which can otherwise lead to the formation of new blood vessels that provide oxygen and nutrients to tumours.

Professor Bates and colleagues had previously discovered in 2002 that VEGF comes in two forms and acts like a switch — one which turns on the growth of blood vessels and another that blocks growth.

Pain prevention

However, this latest research has shown for the first time that these two forms of VEGF not only act on blood vessels but also differently affect the sensory nerves that control pain.

The academics discovered that the VEGF that promotes blood vessel growth causes pain, while the other, which inhibits blood vessel growth, prevents pain.

The study has centred on understanding how these two types of VEGF work and why the body makes one form rather than the other.

The academics have been able to switch from the pain stimulating form to the pain inhibiting VEGF in animal models in the laboratory and are now investigating compounds to replicate this in humans. It is thought these compounds could form the basis for new drugs to be tested in humans in clinical trials.

The research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation and the Richard Bright VEGF Research Fund.

— Ends —

Our academics can now be interviewed for broadcast via our Media Hub, which offers a Globelynx fixed camera and ISDN line facilities at University Park campus. For further information please contact a member of the Communications team on +44 (0)115 951 5798, email mediahub@nottingham.ac.uk or see the Globelynx website for how to register for this service.

For up to the minute media alerts, follow us on Twitter

Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also the most popular university in the UK among graduate employers, in the top 10 for student experience according to the Times Higher Education and one of the world’s greenest universities

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…


The paper Regulation of alternative VEGF-A mRNA splicing is a therapeutic target for analgesia (DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2014.08.012) has been published online under open access by the Neurobiology of Disease but will also appear in its 71st volume being published in November this year.

Story credits

More information is available from Dr Lucy Donaldson in the School of Life Sciences, or Professor David Bates in the School of Medicine, University of Nottingham on +44 (0)115 823 1135, lucy.Donaldson@nottingham.ac.uk,  david.bates@nottingham.ac.uk

Emma Thorne Emma Thorne - Media Relations Manager

Email: emma.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)115 951 5793 Location: University Park

Additional resources

No additional resources for this article

Related articles

Media Relations - External Relations

The University of Nottingham
YANG Fujia Building
Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham, NG8 1BB

telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 5798
email: pressoffice@nottingham.ac.uk