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Pain Biomarkers

  • Review Article
  • Part 2: Insights into the Future of Pain Management
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Abstract

The value of biomarkers in aiding early diagnosis of disease and predicting response to pharmacologic interventions is well known. The idea that biomarkers may also be used to identify and quantify pain has been investigated in preclinical and clinical studies. Findings from a preclinical study show that inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain have different biomarkers. Further investigations provided mixed results, on the one hand, cystatin C levels in cerebrospinal fluid appear to be a predictive marker for postherpetic neuralgia in patients with varicella-zoster virus, and a pain marker in women experiencing labour pain, but is not correlated with pain duration or intensity. Investigations into potential biomarkers for chest pain showed that cardiac markers used to aid in diagnosis and prognosis of cardiac disease correlate with tissue damage rather than with pain. Further studies are needed to gain insights into biomarkers for pain to enhance pain management practices.

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Acknowledgements

English language assistance for the preparation of this manuscript was provided by Stephanie Blick, Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Communications. This assistance was funded by Molteni Farmaceutici, Inc. The authors have no conflicts of interest, actual or potential, to report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anaesthesia and Resuscitation, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Antonio Marchi, Anna Rita Piredda & Gabriele Finco

  2. Palliative Care and Pain Therapy Unit, University Hospital of Careggi, Florence, Italy

    Renato Vellucci

  3. Antalgic Unit, Businco Hospital, Cagliari, Italy

    Sergio Mameli

Authors
  1. Antonio Marchi
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  2. Renato Vellucci
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  3. Sergio Mameli
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  4. Anna Rita Piredda
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  5. Gabriele Finco
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Correspondence to Renato Vellucci.

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Marchi, A., Vellucci, R., Mameli, S. et al. Pain Biomarkers. Clin. Drug Investig. 29 (Suppl 1), 41–46 (2009). https://doi.org/10.2165/0044011-200929001-00006

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/0044011-200929001-00006

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