This technology is a pharmaceutical composition for pain prevention and treatment that uses the neuropeptide hPEN, corresponding to amino acids 221–242 of the human precursor protein proSAAS, as an active ingredient. The same peptide can also be incorporated into food, health functional foods, quasi-drugs, animal feed, feed additives, and cosmetic compositions.
Pain significantly reduces quality of life and social productivity, yet it remains one of the most difficult pathologies to diagnose and treat due to its subjective nature. Existing analgesics, such as anesthetics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are often insufficient or cause side effects, failing to completely eliminate pain. There is a critical need for a new, non-narcotic material capable of managing pain from various causes.
This technology utilizes hPEN, consisting of the 22-amino acid sequence AADHDVGSELPPEGVLGALLRV (SEQ ID NO: 1). Pain suppression was confirmed in CFA-induced inflammatory pain models and thermal stimulation pain models, and luciferase luminescence was reduced in hPEN-treated HEK293 cells. Targeted pain includes inflammatory, neuropathic, osteoarthritic, postoperative, and cancer pain, as well as postherpetic neuralgia, fibromyalgia, and migraines. It can be applied to chronic neuropathic pain treatments, injectable peptide formulations for postoperative pain management, and quasi-drug ointments, spray-on patches, or adhesive patches. This provides a new drug candidate that reduces pain without the risk of opioid dependence by using a peptide sequence naturally present in the human body.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT for research on identifying unresolved somatosensory mechanisms through the discovery of novel receptors and their operating principles.
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