North Texas Dentistry Volume 8 Issue 2 2018 ISSUE 2 DE | Page 5

Texas A&M College of Dentistry
In Pursuit of a Cure for Shingles Pain
National Institutes of Health awards Texas A&M College of Dentistry
researchers $1.25 million to explore post-herpetic neuralgia at the cellular level
by Jennifer Fuentes
or many of us, chickenpox was practically a rite of passage
in childhood. Prior to the varicella vaccine’s arrival in 1995,
the virus that causes it infected nearly 4 million people per
year. And although the vaccine has made huge strides for future
generations, one-third of Americans who have had chickenpox
will experience a resurgence of the varicella virus, typically in
late adulthood. Decades after initial infection, the virus can re-
activate from after ‘hiding out’ in a person’s sensory nerves,
leading to a telltale blistering rash characteristic of shingles, or
herpes zoster. Most often, it crops up on one side of the body or
face. Once the immune system clears the body of shingles — a
process that can take several weeks — pain persists in the nerve
fibers and skin. Damaged nerves can no longer signal the brain
as they once did. Instead, pain messages fill in the gap. Referred
to as post-herpetic neuralgia, this burning, jabbing, deep and
aching nerve pain has no cure, can last for months or even years,
and can be so debilitating that it can lower quality of life and re-
sult in withdrawal from society.
F
Researchers at Texas A&M College of Dentistry are working to
change that.
Approximately $1.25 million in National Institutes of Health
funding has been awarded to Dr. Phillip Kramer, professor in
biomedical sciences at Texas A&M College of Dentistry, to study
the role of GABAergic genes in modulating pain. New technolo-
gies will allow Kramer’s team to gain images of individual neu-
ral cells during pain testing. They’ll begin with the thalamus,
which acts as the brain’s hub for pain perception, but hopes are
to explore the entire pain pathway within several brain regions
to determine how and why differences exist with post-herpetic
neuralgia between men and women.
“Interestingly, women report post-herpetic neuralgia pain more
often than men, leading us to speculate that sex steroids play a
role,” Kramer explains. “We are exploring estradiol’s effect on
pain as it naturally occurs. We hypothesize that estradiol pro-
tects against pain, and that higher levels of estradiol lead to a
reduced pain response but that lower levels of estradiol result
in greater pain. For example, pregnant women often report a
reduction in pain, and this is a time of increased naturally-
occurring estradiol.”
To study pain responses associated with shingles, Kramer col-
laborated with University of Pittsburgh virologist Dr. Paul
Kinchington to develop a clinically relevant zoster pain model.
Because shingles often attacks the face and eyes, Kramer scru-
tinized the mechanisms of zoster pain in the faces of male and
(continued on page 11)
www.northtexasdentistry.com | NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY
5