Malafoglia Valentina, Ilari Sara, Gioia Chiara, Vitiello Laura, Tenti Michael, Iannuccelli Cristina, Cristiani Costanza Maria, Garofalo Cinzia, Passacatini Lucia Carmela, Viglietto Giuseppe, Scavalli Antonio Sili, Tomino Carlo, Mollace Vincenzo, Raffaeli William, Di Franco Manuela, Muscoli Carolina
Fondazione ISAL, Institute for Research on Pain, 47921 Rimini, Italy.
Institute of Research for Food Safety & Health (IRC_FSH), Department of Health Sciences, University 'Magna Graecia' of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.
Biomedicines. 2023 Mar 17;11(3):931. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11030931.
The evaluation of chronic pain is challenging because of the lack of specific biomarkers. We identified the Mu opioid receptor-positive (Mu+) B cell percentage of expression, named Mu-Lympho-Marker (MLM), as a candidate marker for chronic pain in fibromyalgia (FM) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Here, we investigate the role of MLM on natural killer (NK) cells in the same patients. Twenty-nine FM and twelve OA patients were analyzed, and twenty-three pain-free subjects were considered as the control group. Blood samples were collected to perform immunophenotyping and Western blot analysis. Biological and clinical data were statistically analyzed. The final results showed that the percentage of NK cells expressing Mu was statistically lower in FM and OA patients than in pain-free subjects, as already demonstrated for B cells. A Western blot analysis was performed in order to detect NK cells' functional status. Moreover, the correlation analysis of MLM expression with pharmacological therapy did not show any significant results. In conclusion, here, we confirm the role of MLM as a suitable marker for chronic pain and underline NK cells as a new possible immune cell type involved in the "Mu opioid receptor reserve theory".
由于缺乏特异性生物标志物，慢性疼痛的评估具有挑战性。我们将表达μ阿片受体阳性（Mu+）的B细胞百分比命名为μ淋巴细胞标志物（MLM），作为纤维肌痛（FM）和骨关节炎（OA）患者慢性疼痛的候选标志物。在此，我们研究MLM在同一患者自然杀伤（NK）细胞上的作用。分析了29例FM患者和12例OA患者，并将23名无疼痛受试者作为对照组。采集血样进行免疫表型分析和蛋白质印迹分析。对生物学和临床数据进行统计学分析。最终结果显示，与无疼痛受试者相比，FM和OA患者中表达Mu的NK细胞百分比在统计学上更低，这与B细胞的情况一致。进行蛋白质印迹分析以检测NK细胞的功能状态。此外，MLM表达与药物治疗的相关性分析未显示任何显著结果。总之，我们在此证实了MLM作为慢性疼痛合适标志物的作用，并强调NK细胞是参与“μ阿片受体储备理论”的一种新的可能免疫细胞类型。
