With new funding from The Mayday Fund, a Saint Louis University researcher will leverage her discovery of a pain pathway to determine if either of two key molecules can be used as biomarkers for pain associated with four debilitating health conditions: chemotherapy–induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), endometriosis, interstitial cystitis and vulvodynia.

SLU scientist and principal investigator Daniela Salvemini, PhD, will use the $363,000 grant to advance her work to understand pain in order to develop new painkillers.

“It is exciting to reach the moment when you can take your research from the laboratory to the clinic,” said Salvemini, who is professor of pharmacology and physiology at SLU.

In previous work, Salvemini discovered pain pathways – the molecular series of events that lead to pain – that helped researchers understand how pain occurs. The pain pathways are dependent on two molecules: S1PR1 and A3AR (sphingosine 1–phosphate receptor subtype 1 and A3 adenosine receptor subtype). By modulating these molecules, scientists were able to block and reverse pain. This finding is particularly encouraging because a drug that modulates S1PR1 is already on the market and one that modulates A3AR is in advanced clinical trials.

Salvemini’s next goal is to see if S1PR1 and A3AR can serve as biomarkers in the clinic.

Identifying biomarkers is an important step in the scientific process to find a new painkiller; without a biomarker, it would be difficult to know if a medication is easing pain or if pain is subsiding for another reason. This will also allow doctors to select those patients that will be more likely to respond to the medicine in a personalized approach.

Based on her previous work, Salvemini believes that higher levels of S1PR1 and/or A3AR correlate with chronic pain incidence and intensity and predict the development of chronic pain syndromes, suggesting these receptors may be good targets for new drugs that target these pathways to treat or prevent chronic pain syndromes.

“Our goal is to take this exciting basic science work a step further and study to see if these molecules can serve as biomarkers in people, helping us to identify patients who would and who would not benefit from drugs that target this pathway and providing a more personalized approach to pain treatment,” Salvemini said. “This study focuses on high impact, high potential chronic pain–associated conditions.”