Chronic pain is a significant health care problem, ineffectively treated because of
its unclear etiology and heterogeneous clinical presentation. Emerging evidence demonstrates
that microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the expression of pain-relevant genes, yet little
is known about their role in chronic pain. Here, we evaluate the relationship among
pain, psychological characteristics, plasma cytokines, and whole blood miRNAs in 22
healthy controls (HCs); 33 subjects with chronic pelvic pain (vestibulodynia, VBD);
and 23 subjects with VBD and irritable bowel syndrome (VBD + IBS). VBD subjects were
similar to HCs in self-reported pain, psychological profiles, and remote bodily pain.
VBD + IBS subjects reported decreased health and function; and an increase in headaches,
somatization, and remote bodily pain. Furthermore, VBD subjects exhibited a balance
in proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, whereas VBD + IBS subjects failed
to exhibit a compensatory increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines. VBD subjects differed
from controls in expression of 10 miRNAs of predicted importance for pain and estrogen
signaling. VBD + IBS subjects differed from controls in expression of 11 miRNAs of
predicted importance for pain, cell physiology, and insulin signaling. miRNA expression
was correlated with pain-relevant phenotypes and cytokine levels. These results suggest
that miRNAs represent a valuable tool for differentiating VBD subtypes (localized
pain with apparent peripheral neurosensory disruption vs widespread pain with a central
sensory contribution) that may require different treatment approaches.
Abbreviations:
CCPC (complex chronic pain condition), CNS (central nervous system), FM (fibromyalgia), HC (healthy controls), IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), IL-1ra (interleukin 1 receptor antagonist), IL-8 (interleukin 8), miRNAs (microRNAs), TMD (temporomandibular disorder), TMJ (temporomandibular joint), VBD (vestibulodynia)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 23, 2015
Accepted:
June 13,
2015
Received in revised form:
May 21,
2015
Received:
April 6,
2015
Footnotes
Brittney P. Ciszek and Asma A. Khan are co-first authors.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
