Department of Health Science and Technology, The Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), SMI®, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
Eur J Pain. 2021 Feb;25(2):296-312. doi: 10.1002/ejp.1674. Epub 2020 Nov 10.
Throughout the last decade, research has uncovered associations between pain and epigenetic alterations caused by environmental factors. Specifically, studies have demonstrated correlations between pain conditions and altered DNA methylation patterns. Thus, DNA methylation has been revealed as a possible modulator or contributor to pain conditions, providing a potential therapeutic target for treatment by DNA methylation modification. To develop such treatments, it is necessary to clarify a wide number of aspects on how DNA methylation affects pain perception; first and foremost, the temporal dynamics. The objective of the present review is to provide an overview of current knowledge on temporal dynamics of DNA methylation in response to pain, and to investigate if a timeframe can be established based on the data of currently published studies.
PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar and Embase were searched comprehensively for studies of DNA methylation in neuropathic, inflammatory and alternative animal pain models, and in chronic pain patients including Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, chronic postsurgical pain, chronic widespread pain, fibromyalgia and Crohn's disease.
We identified 34 articles highlighting variations in temporal dynamics of DNA methylation across species and between different types of pain. These studies represent a starting point to uncover new insights in the DNA methylation time course in pain.
No timeframe can currently be made for the DNA methylation response to pain in any of the reviewed conditions, highlighting an important focus area for future research.
在过去的十年中，研究揭示了疼痛与环境因素引起的表观遗传改变之间的关联。具体而言，研究表明疼痛状况与改变的 DNA 甲基化模式之间存在相关性。因此，DNA 甲基化已被揭示为疼痛状况的可能调节剂或促成因素，为通过 DNA 甲基化修饰进行治疗提供了潜在的治疗靶点。为了开发这种治疗方法，有必要阐明 DNA 甲基化如何影响疼痛感知的许多方面；首先，是时间动态。本综述的目的是提供对疼痛反应中 DNA 甲基化时间动态的现有知识的概述，并研究是否可以根据当前发表的研究数据建立一个时间范围。
全面搜索了 PubMed、MEDLINE、Google Scholar 和 Embase 中的神经病理性、炎症性和替代动物疼痛模型以及慢性疼痛患者（包括复杂性区域疼痛综合征、慢性手术后疼痛、慢性广泛性疼痛、纤维肌痛和克罗恩病）中 DNA 甲基化的研究。
我们确定了 34 篇文章，强调了不同物种和不同类型疼痛之间 DNA 甲基化时间动态的变化。这些研究代表了揭示疼痛中 DNA 甲基化时间过程新见解的起点。
目前在任何已审查的条件下，都无法为 DNA 甲基化对疼痛的反应制定时间范围，这突出了未来研究的一个重要重点领域。
