Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29956587›Full record

ArticleMolecular pain

Therapeutic potential of Pak1 inhibition for pain associated with cutaneous burn injury.

Yiqun Guo, Curtis Benson, Myriam Hill, Stefanie Henry, Philip Effraim, Stephen G Waxman, Sulayman Dib-Hajj, Andrew M Tan

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular pain. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. PAK1 inhibitor NVS-PAK1-1 preserves dendritic spines in amyloid/tau exposed neurons and 5xFAD mice.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  3. Conditional Astrocyte Rac1KO Attenuates Hyperreflexia after Spinal Cord Injury.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Pharmacology of HIV Cure: Site of Action.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2021
    Review
  9. Sculpting Dendritic Spines during Initiation and Maintenance of Neuropathic Pain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020
    Review
  10. Dendritic Spine Dynamics after Peripheral Nerve Injury: An Intravital Structural Study.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Yiqun Guo1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Curtis Benson1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Myriam Hill1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Stefanie Henry1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Philip Effraim1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Stephen G Waxman1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Sulayman Dib-Hajj1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Andrew M Tan1 Department of Neurology, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Yale University · USVA Connecticut Healthcare System · US

Funding

NEUROMOLECULAR BASIS FOR PAIN IN SCI AND BURN INJURYI01RX000395 · VA · VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · PI WAXMAN, STEPHEN · 2011 to 2018
–
Abnormal Dendritic Spines Underlie Neuropathic Pain and Spasticity in SCIIK2RX001123 · VA · VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · PI TAN, ANDREW MICHAEL · 2014 to 2018
–
RRD VA I01 RX000395RRD VA IK2 RX001123
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Painful burn injuries are among the most debilitating form of trauma, globally ranking in the top 15 leading causes of chronic disease burden. Despite its prevalence, however, chronic pain after burn injury is under-studied. We previously demonstrated the contribution of the Rac1-signaling pathway in several models of neuropathic pain, including burn injury. However, Rac1 belongs to a class of GTPases with low therapeutic utility due to their complex intracellular dynamics. To further understand the mechanistic underpinnings of burn-induced neuropathic pain, we performed a longitudinal study to address the hypothesis that inhibition of the downstream effector of Rac1, Pak1, will improve pain outcome following a second-degree burn injury. Substantial evidence has identified Pak1 as promising a clinical target in cognitive dysfunction and is required for dendritic spine dysgenesis associated with many neurological diseases. In our burn injury model, mice exhibited significant tactile allodynia and heat hyperalgesia and dendritic spine dysgenesis in the dorsal horn. Activity-dependent expression of c-fos also increased in dorsal horn neurons, an indicator of elevated central nociceptive activity. To inhibit Pak1, we repurposed an FDA-approved inhibitor, romidepsin. Treatment with romidepsin decreased dendritic spine dysgenesis, reduced c-fos expression, and rescued pain thresholds. Drug discontinuation resulted in a relapse of cellular correlates of pain and in lower pain thresholds in behavioral tests. Taken together, our findings identify Pak1 signaling as a potential molecular target for therapeutic intervention in traumatic burn-induced neuropathic pain.

Indexed as

AnimalsAntibiotics, AntineoplasticBody WeightBurnsDendritic SpinesDepsipeptidesDisease Models, AnimalFemaleLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLNerve Tissue ProteinsNeuralgiap21-Activated KinasesPain ThresholdAntibiotics, AntineoplasticDepsipeptidesNerve Tissue Proteinsp21-Activated KinasesPak1 protein, mouseProto-Oncogene Proteins c-fosrac1 GTP-Binding ProteinromidepsinBurn injurycentral nervous systemdendritic spinespainPak1preclinicalRac1romidepsinsynaptic plasticitytrauma

Identifiers

PMID29956587
PMCPMC6053256
OpenAlexW2810830716

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.