Beclin 1, an autophagy protein involved in pain hypersensitivity in males but not females
The authors investigated whether Beclin 1, a protein essential for initiating the cellular process of autophagy, is involved in pain processing and is targetable for pain relief.
They report that monoallelic deletion of Becn1, which encodes Beclin 1 protein, increases inflammation-induced pain hypersensitivity in male mice. In females mice, loss of Becn1 does not affect inflammation-induced mechanical hypersensitivity.
Moreover, an activator of Beclin 1, tat-beclin 1, reverses neuropathic and inflammatory pain hypersensitivity in male mice.
Pain signaling pathways converge on the enhancement of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in spinal dorsal horn neurons. The loss of Becn1 upregulates synaptic NMDAR-mediated currents in dorsal horn neurons from males but not females.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(24)00621-1
