Novel Molecular Targets for the Treatment of Pain

Chronic pain is one of the leading health problems in the world, accounting for more than 100 million sufferers and more than $600 billion in costs in the USA alone. Opioid drugs like morphine are the gold standard for treating moderate to severe pain, yet they are limited in efficacy for some pain types, like migraines, and are also limited by serious adverse side effects, especially reward and addiction. Over-prescription of opioids has also led to an opioid abuse, addiction, and overdose public health crisis. These limitations point out the extreme medical and social need for alternative efficacious and non-addictive pain treatments. However, this field has shown only limited success. In this special collection, we will explore novel molecular targets for the treatment of pain that improve analgesic efficacy while reducing side effects, particularly reward and addiction. We are primarily seeking original research articles, and potentially 1-2 review articles on this topic. Relevant manuscripts should explore novel targets at the molecular level, but are not limited to any particular type of target. Potential areas of interest include but are not limited to novel opioid signal transduction (e.g., biased agonism, etc.), alternate receptor targets to modulate pain such as the cannabinoid receptors, ion transporters, novel transcription factors, and the like. Ideal manuscripts will demonstrate the impact of a novel molecular target on both pain and analgesia as well as demonstrating a reduced side effect profile. Submitted manuscripts/reviews should also discuss how the novel target in question could be translated clinically for the treatment of pain.

Topic Editor John Streicher is a co-founder and equity partner of Teleport Pharmaceuticals, LLC. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.