Piras Cristina, Pintus Bruno Maria, Noto Antonio, Evangelista Maurizio, Fanos Vassilios, Musu Mario, Mussap Michele, Atzori Luigi, Sardo Salvatore, Finco Gabriele
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, 09042, Italy.
Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, 09042, Italy.
J Pain Res. 2022 Mar 11;15:723-731. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S354516. eCollection 2022.
Chronic pain affects almost 20% of the European adult population and it significantly reduces patients' quality of life. Chronic pain is considered a multidimensional experience determined by the interaction of several genetic and environmental factors. The effect of specific genetic contributions is often unclear, and the interpretation of the results from studies focused on genetic influences on pain has been complicated by the existence of multiple pain phenotypes. A step forward from genetics could be given by the application of metabolomics and microbiomics tools. Metabolomics is a powerful approach for hypothesis generation in biology, and it aims to analyze low molecular weight compounds, either metabolic intermediates or metabolic end-products, resulting from human or microbial metabolism. Microbiomics is a fast-growing field in which all the microbes are examined together, and as a result, its perturbation may indicate the development of chronic diseases. By applying these methodologies for the study of chronic pain, several differences have been identified. The alteration of the choline-PAF pathway is an intriguing finding recognized by several groups. In our opinion, metabolomics and microbiomics techniques will allow significant progress into the medical field. Patients may benefit from the possibility of being stratified and classified based on their metabolic and microbial profile, which, in the next future, may lead to personalized therapy.
慢性疼痛影响着近20%的欧洲成年人口，显著降低了患者的生活质量。慢性疼痛被认为是一种由多种遗传和环境因素相互作用所决定的多维度体验。特定基因贡献的影响往往不明确，而且由于存在多种疼痛表型，专注于基因对疼痛影响的研究结果的解读变得复杂。代谢组学和微生物组学工具的应用可能会推动该领域从遗传学方面取得进一步进展。代谢组学是生物学中一种强大的假设生成方法，旨在分析由人类或微生物代谢产生的低分子量化合物，即代谢中间体或代谢终产物。微生物组学是一个快速发展的领域，其中对所有微生物进行综合研究，因此，其扰动可能预示着慢性疾病的发展。通过应用这些方法来研究慢性疼痛，已经发现了一些差异。胆碱 - 血小板活化因子途径的改变是多个研究团队都认可的一个有趣发现。我们认为，代谢组学和微生物组学技术将推动医学领域取得重大进展。患者可能会受益于根据其代谢和微生物特征进行分层和分类的可能性，这在不久的将来可能会带来个性化治疗。
