(May 25, 2015) A gene
essential to the production of pain-sensing neurons in humans has been
identified by an international team of researchers co-led by the University of
Cambridge. The discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Genetics, could
have implications for the development of new methods of pain relief.
Pain perception is an evolutionarily-conserved warning
mechanism that alerts us to dangers in the environment and to potential tissue
damage. However, rare individuals – around one in a million people in the UK –
are born unable to feel pain. These people accumulate numerous self-inflicted
injuries, often leading to reduced lifespan.