Role of Apolipoprotein E in the tangled mystery of pain

Publication date: Available online 26 February 2018
Source:Medical Hypotheses
Author(s): Harjot Dhillon, Sargun Singh
Pain is one of the common and debilitating manifestations associated with the majority of diseased conditions, making it a serious health concern worldwide. While trying to decipher the cryptic mechanism of pain in hope to provide better gene-based therapeutics, researchers have concluded pain to be of multigenic origin.Apolipoprotein E is a protein coded by APOE gene containing 4 exons, located on chromosome 19q13.2. It is among the key regulators of various crucial body functions such as lipid transport, apoptosis, vitamin k pathway, and cognition, hence, it is highly suspected to play a pivotal role in the nociception process. However, very few studies have tried and succeeded to find a direct involvement of APOE in pain processing.The current article attempts to throw light on some of the major clinical research findings strengthens the hypothesis stating that Apolipoprotein E has a deeply embedded association with the pain regulating pathways, through several underlying physiological, biochemical and neurological processes, that in turn, decide the fate of pain in a complex manner.



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