New hope on the horizon of chronic pain therapy; targeting PI3K, proinflammatory cytokines/AKT/nitric oxide

Abstract

Pain is one of the most debilitating and unpleasant sensory or emotional condition which present itself in the form of complex phenomena. Safe and effective drug treatment for chronic pain is still a gigantic challenge in the field of research and quality of life. Recently phosphotidylinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) and its downstream regulator emerged as appealing targets for the development of new drugs having immense potential in various major disorders[1]. Researcher’s targeted different PI3K downstream signaling components both in central and peripheral level of nervous system using various models of chronic pain. Emphasis must be put on the importance of PI3K and its downstream molecules such as Akt, proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide as a potential target for the treatment of chronic pain. Researchers are paying serious efforts to identify those molecules which have high clinical outcome with least chances of side effects.