Significantly less addictive opioid may slow progression of
osteoarthritis while easing pain

Date:
July 13, 2020
Source:
University of Southern California - Health Sciences
Summary:
A new study reveals that kappa opioids, a significantly less
addictive opioid, may preserve cartilage in joints and ease pain.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A novel preclinical study by Keck Medicine of USC researchers, published
in Arthritis & Rheumatology, reveals that a potential new opioid
medication may have the ability to slow the progression of osteoarthritis
while being less addictive than commonly prescribed opioid drugs.


==========================================================================
The medication activates the kappa opioid receptor (KOR), which binds
to opioid-like compounds in the central and peripheral nervous systems
to alleviate pain, resulting in targeted pain relief with a reduced risk
of addiction.

Previous research shows that some opioids that selectively activate
only KORs relieve pain locally at the site of injury without crossing
the blood brain barrier and inducing substance dependency, whereas
commonly prescribed opioids that target other receptors in the brain
are more addictive.

In this study, lead author Alexander Weber, MD, sports medicine physician
and orthopaedic surgeon with Keck Medicine, and corresponding author
Denis Evseenko, MD, PhD, vice chair for research and associate professor
of orthopaedic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, locally administered a kappa opioid into arthritic mice knees and measured the progression of the disease in their joints.

The researchers confirmed that the medication effectively alleviated pain, however findings also suggest that the medication prevented the loss
of cartilage, the connective tissue between the joins that pads bones,
and slowed the progression of osteoarthritis.

"Arthritis affects nearly a quarter of adults in the United States, many
of whom take addictive opioids to manage their pain. The implications
of this study may someday alter how we provide orthopaedic care to significantly reduce the number of patients experiencing long-term pain
and addiction," says Weber.

More research is needed to advance toward human clinical trials, which
are paramount as treatment and pain management options for osteoarthritis
are limited.

"We hope that the findings of our study will lay the foundations for
clinical research to further current understandings of the relationship
between kappa opioids and osteoarthritis in humans to improve clinical
care and quality of life," says Evseenko.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Southern_California_-_Health_Sciences.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Alexander E. Weber, Omid Jalali, Sean Limfat, Ruzanna Shkhyan,
Robert Van
Der Horst, Siyoung Lee, Yucheng Lin, Liangliang Li, Erik N. Mayer,
Liming Wang, Nancy Q. Liu, Frank A. Petrigliano, Jay R. Lieberman,
Denis Evseenko. Modulation of Hedgehog Signaling by Kappa Opioids
to Attenuate Osteoarthritis. Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2020; DOI:
10.1002/art.41250 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200713120014.htm

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