ReviewPain2024
"Neuroinflammation": does it have a role in chronic pain? Evidence from human imaging.
Review in Pain, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Sexually Dimorphic Neuroimmune Pathways in Chronic Pain: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms.Biomolecules · 2026Pooled it
- Trial
- Glial cells in neuropathic pain.Physiological reviews · 2026Review
- Gabapentinoids-duloxetine combination therapy for chronic pain: A mechanism oriented rational to bridge theoretical knowledge and real life setting.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Review
- Neuroimmune Phenotyping as the Next Frontier in Chronic Pain Medicine for Musculoskeletal Back Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Review
- Unraveling the Genetic Basis of Self-Harm Phenotypes: New Perspectives on Its Links to Depression and Chronic Pain.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Chronic pain as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease pathology: a longitudinal ADNI study.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2026Article
- Towards a Whole-Body Assessment of Pain Using the 18 kDa Translocator Protein (TSPO) as a Broad-Spectrum Imaging Marker of Inflammation.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Review
- Multimorbidity in Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions: From Burden to Integrated Care.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Article
- Sex- and Region-Specific Glial Reactivity in Hyperthyroid Mice Lacks Correlation With the Noncognitive and Non-Depressive-Like Behavioral Alterations.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiome-Driven Microglial Activation Links Dysbiosis to Pain in Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome.Research square · 2026Article
- Network-based disease fingerprinting with neuroinflammation PET imaging.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Distinct Grey Matter Alterations in Untreated Mild to Moderate Chronic Low Back Pain: A Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Observational
- Why sleep matters in chronic pain: evidence across the lifespan.EBioMedicine · 2026Review
- Neuroinflammatory Biomarkers in Chronic Low Back Pain: Mechanisms, Clinical Evidence, and Translational Challenges.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- MASSAG model: Towards an integrative neuroscience framework linking emotional trauma, pain, and mechanisms of force-based manipulations.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Insomnia Increases Susceptibility to Sciatica: Evidence from Mendelian Randomization and Integrative Genetic Analyses.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- A mechanistic hypothesis: osteopathic manipulative therapy may modulate immune cell function in chronic low back pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Transcriptional signatures of aberrant brain functional network topology in chronic low back pain with lumbar disc herniation.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
abstractDespite hundreds of studies demonstrating the involvement of neuron-glia-immune interactions in the establishment and/or maintenance of persistent pain behaviors in animals, the role (or even occurrence) of so-called "neuroinflammation" in human pain has been an object of contention for decades. Here, I present the results of multiple positron emission tomography (PET) studies measuring the levels of the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO), a putative neuroimmune marker, in individuals with various pain conditions. Overall, these studies suggest that brain TSPO PET signal: (1) is elevated, compared to healthy volunteers, in individuals with chronic low back pain (with additional elevations in spinal cord and neuroforamina), fibromyalgia, migraine and other conditions characterized by persistent pain; (2) has a spatial distribution exhibiting a degree of disorder specificity; (3) is parametrically linked to pain characteristics or comorbid symptoms (eg, nociplastic pain, fatigue, depression), as well as measures of brain function (ie, functional connectivity), in a regionally-specific manner. In this narrative, I also discuss important caveats to consider in the interpretation of this work (eg, regarding the cellular source of the signal and the complexities inherent in its acquisition and analysis). While the biological and clinical significance of these findings awaits further work, this emerging preclinical literature supports a role of neuron-glia-immune interactions as possible pathophysiological underpinnings of human chronic pain. Gaining a deeper understanding of the role of neuroimmune function in human pain would likely have important practical implications, possibly paving the way for novel interventions.
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Registered trials
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.