Prevention of neuropathic pain in an animal model of spare nerve injury following oral immunization with recombinant adenovirus serotype 5-mediated NR2B gene transfer

Spinal N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B subunit (NR2B)-increased expression plays an important role in the facilitation and maintenance of the persistent pain state due to peripheral nerve

injury. A vaccination strategy to reduce the expression of brain protein is feasible and may have therapeutic potential for neurological disorders. Thus, we investigated the effect of oral

immunization with recombinant adenovirus serotype 5-mediated NR2B gene transfer (rAd5/NR2B) for the modulation of neuropathic pain. After peroral administration of the rAd5/NR2B vaccine,

transgene NR2B expression persisted for at least a week and was associated with the induction of high serum titers of NR2B-specific antibodies. Following the occurrence of mechanical

allodynia due to peripheral nerve injury, NR2B-specific antibodies could pass the blood–brain barrier, transport and subsequently bind to the spinal NR2B protein. The humoral immunoresponse

results in the strong antiallodynia in the spared nerve injury animal model. These data proved the feasibility of oral immunization with rAd5/NR2B for the prevention of neuropathic pain.

We thank Luo Jianhong for his endowment of plasmid pcDNA3.1/NR2B. We express our gratitude to Wu Xiaobing who contributed to the construction of an adenovirus vector. This work was supported

by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30471660).

G-M Wang and X-B Tian: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Department of Anesthesiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

G-M Wang, X-B Tian, J-P Chen, S-B Yang, F Gao, H Yang, K An & Y-K Tian

Department of Anesthesiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong, China

Department of Anesthesiology, Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi, China

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