Clifford J. Woolf

Sep 25, 2024 | nature.com | Clifford J. Woolf

In 2022, more than 80,000 people died of an opioid overdose in the United States. To reduce this toll, we need to abandon analgesic drugs that act through the µ-opioid receptor and identify painkillers that cannot be so easily abused. Fortunately, developments in how we can evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of drugs are making this possible.

Feb 12, 2024 | nature.com | Clifford J. Woolf

Sep 13, 2023 | nature.com | Sebastien Tremblay |Sébastien Tremblay |Ilyas Singeç |Clifford J. Woolf |Matthew Hayes |F. Christian Bennett | +4 more

AbstractWith concurrent global epidemics of chronic pain and opioid use disorders, there is a critical need to identify, target and manipulate specific cell populations expressing the mu-opioid receptor (MOR). However, available tools and transgenic models for gaining long-term genetic access to MOR+ neural cell types and circuits involved in modulating pain, analgesia and addiction across species are limited.

Feb 23, 2023 | nature.com | Clifford J. Woolf

A serendipitous behavioral observation in a mouse line led to the discovery that macrophages modulate acute pain. The macrophage-derived protein SNX25 sets the threshold for acute pain through tonic NGF signaling to cutaneous sensory neurons. During conditions in which a tissue is injured or infected, resident and infiltrating immune cells communicate with sensory neurons via mediator release, including the production of nerve growth factor (NGF)1, to cause inflammatory pain2.