August 20, 2025

expert reaction to study identifying potential drug target for chronic pain

A study published in Nature identifies a potential drug target (a neuronal polyamine transporter) for chronic pain. 

Dr Franziska Denk, Senior Lecturer, King’s College London, said:

Does the press release accurately reflect the science?

“Yes, the press release is very balanced and measured.

Is this good quality research?  Are the conclusions backed up by solid data?

“This is an outstanding piece of work produced by leading scientists across their respective disciplines.  The results are not only exciting for basic scientists like myself, but also uncover a promising new target for drug development.  This study is a great start and the first step in finding a new painkiller – next, we need studies focussed on actually making drugs that hit this new target.  Such studies (drug making / drug development) are quite different from the study conducted here (focused on target discovery).

How does this work fit with the existing evidence?

“The work is very novel in that it is the first description of a polyamine transporter that is located on the outside of our nerve cells and that is linked to pain intensity in humans.

Have the authors accounted for confounders?  Are there important limitations to be aware of?

“Yes, the work is well-controlled and executed.

What are the implications in the real world?  Is there any overspeculation?

“The press release is very measured – there is no overspeculation.  The next steps from this work are indeed to start looking into whether this target will be suitable for the development of novel pain killers.  It’s a very promising start, because the discovery research in this paper is based on data from human genetics.”

‘SLC45A4 is a pain gene encoding a neuronal polyamine transporter’ by Steven J. Middleton et al. was published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 20 August 2025.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09326-y

Declared interests

Dr Franziska Denk: “I have not been involved in this work and have no financial conflicts in relation to it. I collaborate with some of the authors on other, unrelated research projects.”