Pain is an unrelenting symptom of cancer that can upend the life of a patient. For decades, researchers have relied on opioids to provide relief while trying to find an alternative solution because of the drugs’ side effects, to little avail.
Now, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have uncovered a novel mechanism that, they say, could be at the center of generating cancer pain. They found that macrophages—white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system—that have infiltrated lung tumors can begin to mimic neurons and actually sense pain. The phenomenon, which the team dubbed “macrophage to neuron-like transition” or MNT in a study published October 7 in Science Advances, offers a potential explanation as to why some cancer patients are unable to find pain relief through use of conventional painkillers, says Patrick Tang, a biochemist at CUHK and coauthor of the paper.
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