Discovery could lead to better painkillers

**Nate** · #1 06-29-2010, 05:25 PM

Discovery could lead to better painkillers

By Maggie Fox, Reuters April 28, 2010
"Researchers have discovered the body’s own “heat messenger,” which helps nerves feel pain, and said yesterday they hope to use it to design a new, safer class of painkillers.

They found heat activates basic fatty acids similar to capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick, and found two potential ways to block the sensation.
“For the first time we have the opportunity to try to block pain at its source,” Dr. Kenneth Hargreaves of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
He said his team is now working to develop either a pill that people could take to block the effects of these natural “heat messengers,” or engineered immune system proteins called monoclonal antibodies that could be infused to mop them up.
Such an approach should work on any kind of pain caused by inflammation, he said -- arthritis, cancer or injury. He is uncertain about its effects in other types of pain called neuropathies..."

Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/health/seniors/Discovery+could+lead+better+painkillers/2960954/story.html#ixzz0sHOvio8X

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