Picture Credit: Technology Review

Have a chronic pain? Painkillers not working? Researchers have come up with a new gene therapy which may bring relief to cancer patients who suffer from untreatable pain.

"This is a breakthrough study," says Talal Khan, director of the Chronic and Interventional Pain Clinic at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "It's the first gene-therapeutic trial for the management of pain." Khan is not involved in the trial.

To give you a little scare on this, this technique uses a crippled HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus) (Yes its Herpes!), to deliver a therapeutic gene to affected nerves. Why herpes? Because its the ideal delivery agent.

But don't worry, its a modified version which is designed to carry an opiate-like peptide called enkephalin by administering the gene encoding the peptide rather than the peptide itself hence gene therapy can provide a continuous replenished supply.

Still in clinical trial though, and don't worry, everyone gets cold sores, if you hadn't already known.

Via Technology Review