<p>CSF levels of apolipoprotein C1 and autotaxin found to associate with neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia</p>

Abstract

ObjectiveNeuropathic pain and fibromyalgia are two common and poorly understood chronic pain conditions that lack satisfactory treatments, cause substantial suffering and societal costs. Today, there are no biological markers on which to base chronic pain diagnoses, treatment choices or to understand the pathophysiology of pain for the individual patient. This study aimed to investigate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein profiles potentially associated with fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain.MethodsCSF samples were collected from 25 patients with neuropathic pain (two independent sets, n=14 patients for discovery, and n=11 for verification), 40 patients with fibromyalgia and 134 controls without neurological disease from two different populations. CSF protein profiling of 55 proteins was performed using antibody suspension bead array technology.ResultsWe found increased levels of apolipoprotein C1 (APOC1) in CSF of neuropathic pain patients compared to controls and there was a trend for increased levels also in fibromyalgia patients. In addition, levels of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase family member 2 (ENPP2, also referred to as autotaxin) were increased in the CSF of fibromyalgia patients compared to all other groups including patients with neuropathic pain.ConclusionThe increased levels of APOC1 and ENPP2 found in neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia patients may shed light on the underlying mechanisms of these conditions. Further investigation is required to elucidate their role in maintaining pain and other main symptoms of these disorders.

Proteomic studies of common chronic pain conditions - a systematic review and associated network analyses

“…The FM cohorts generally consisted of women (Table 1). However, the FM group investigated in Ciregia et al's study included a few men [74], and several FM studies had healthy control groups that were mixed [74][75][76]. Studies of neuropathic pain conditions and low back pain included both sexes.…”

“…Studies of neuropathic pain conditions and low back pain included both sexes. The studies of neuropathic pain were generally mixed both in the patient group and in controls and therefore reasonably balanced [77][78][79][80]; however, there were exceptions [76].…”

“…Lind et al investigated several groups of patients, including FM patients (n = 40). FM was compared with two groups of controls -healthy controls (n = 11) and controls who had undergone minor urological surgery (n = 28) [76]. Lind et al found highly significant regressions differentiating FM from [81,84].…”

“…Five comparative studies [76,[78][79][80]91] and two methodological studies [92,93] were identified.…”

“…Lind et al (see above), also investigating neuropathic pain, made two regression analyses to identify differentiating proteins [76]. When comparing their first neuropathic group with minor urology surgery controls, they identified four important proteins.…”