mutation

A research team from UCL has identified a rare mutation that causes members of one family to have low sensitivity to pain. The researchers hope that the results could be used to identify new treatments for chronic pain. One in ten people experience moderate to severe disabling chronic pain. Understanding congenital analgesia, a rare inherited condition that reduces the capacity to feel physical pain, could lead to new pain relief therapies. Two mutations causing congenital analgesia are being explored by researchers working with pharmaceutical firms, but no breakthrough drugs have been developed. The researchers studied an Italian family, the Marsilis, which has six people with a distinctive pain response unique to them. The members of this family can burn themselves without feeling any pain. The family has normal intraepidermal nerve fibre density which means they are not missing any nerves. … Read more