Cross-Species Multi-Omics to Identify Novel Pain Therapies

Chronic pain is a complex, multifactorial experience influenced by genetic, molecular, and environmental factors. Studying pain in various species aids in identifying conserved and species-specific mechanisms. Integrating multi-omic approaches—such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics—can uncover critical biomarkers, signaling pathways, and molecular networks involved in pain pathology. These insights across species offer a robust foundation for identifying potential therapeutic targets, optimizing drug development, and improving personalized treatment strategies while enhancing the odds for success in clinical trials, ultimately leading to novel highly effective chronic pain therapies.Most therapies for chronic pain are non-specific and do not treat the pathology that manifests the pain. Since different pathological processes give rise to chronic pain it is imperative that the mechanisms responsible for the pain be identified for each disease. Animal models are usually used to study disease mechanisms, but they have limitations that can lead investigators in false directions, potentially leading to failed human clinical trials. Multi-Omic studies offer a bridge between animals and humans by allowing investigators to directly compare human disease processes to the mechanisms utilized by their animal models. These studies can verify that the models incorporate the same or very similar pathologies and can also confirm that the correction of a pathology through a new therapy leads to the desired outcome in the model, thus derisking the therapy for future clinical trials. The omics data can further be used to monitor clinical trials by providing therapeutic biomarkers that can be followed during treatment to confirm the intended target was engaged. This topic encourages studies that combine multi-omic data from humans and animal models to identify disease mechanisms that cause pain and to discover novel therapies for pain.The scope of this topic includes:1. Studies utilizing omic approaches to compare human tissues/samples and animal models.2. Studies using omics to examine pathological mechanisms of pain in humans in order to identify therapeutic targets for future study in animal models.3. Cross-species comparisons of multi-omic data.4. Reviews focused on species comparisons using omics to understand pain mechanisms. Topic editors: Robert M. Caudle, Yu-Fang Jin, Vittoria Borgonetti Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77892/cross-species-multi-omics-to-identify-novel-pain-therapies