title: mTOR, a new potential target for chronic pain and opioid-induced tolerance and hyperalgesia.
abstract: Chronic pain is a major public health problem with limited treatment options. Opioids remain a routine treatment for chronic pain, but extended exposure to opioid therapy can produce opioid tolerance and hyperalgesia. Although the mechanisms underlying chronic pain, opioid-induced tolerance, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia remain to be uncovered, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is involved in these disorders. The mTOR complex 1 and its triggered protein translation are required for the initiation and maintenance of chronic pain (including cancer pain) and opioid-induced tolerance/hyperalgesia. Given that mTOR inhibitors are FDA-approved drugs and an mTOR inhibitor is approved for the treatment of several cancers, these findings suggest that mTOR inhibitors will likely have multiple clinical benefits, including anticancer, antinociception/anti-cancer pain, and antitolerance/hyperalgesia. This paper compares the role of mTOR complex 1 in chronic pain, opioid-induced tolerance, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia.
authors.affiliation: Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.|Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Brianna Marie
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nia
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA. yuanxiang.tao@njms.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Yuan-Xiang
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA. bekkeray@njms.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bekker
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004361:Drug Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases