IL4-10 Fusion Protein Is a Novel Drug to Treat Persistent Inflammatory Pain

Abstract

The treatment of chronic pain is a major clinical and societal challenge. Current therapies to treat persistent pain states are limited and often cause major side effects. Therefore, novel analgesic treatments are urgently needed. In search of a novel drug to treat chronic pain, we developed a fusion protein consisting of two prototypic regulatory cytokines, interleukin 4 (IL4) and IL10. The work presented in this manuscript shows that this IL4-10 fusion protein overcomes some major therapeutic limitations of pain treatment with individual cytokines. The IL4-10 fusion protein induces full resolution of persistent inflammatory pain in two different mouse models. These novel findings are significant, as they highlight the IL4-10 fusion protein as a long-needed potential new drug to stop persistent pain states.