Viral vector-mediated interleukin 10 for gene therapy on chronic pain

Immunomodulatory molecules play a crucial role in the establishment and maintenance of chronic pain. Among these, anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL-10) has emerged as one of therapeutic options to ameliorate pain state. Some components reduced pain through stimulating endogenous IL-10. However, IL-10 has a short half-life, which limits its long-term treatment of chronic pain. Gene therapy targeting il10 gene expression has shown promise in preclinical studies. There are mainly two approaches to achieving successful transfection of target genes into cells, viral vectors and non-viral methods. Both Watkins and Milligan groups have well investigated and reviewed the non-viral mediated IL-10 delivery for chronic pain treatment, especially focusing on plasmid DNA encoding IL-10 including phase I clinical trial (XT-150; see Articles: Gene Therapy (2009) 16: 470-475; Neuromodulation (2012) 15: 520-526; and Front Immunol (2019) 10: 3009). Viral-vector-mediated gene therapy is a desirable route of administration to require local and long-term expression for chronic pain management. Therefore, in this review we focused on the utility of viral vector-mediated IL-10 expression in preclinical pain models. These studies consistently demonstrated the potential of IL-10-based gene therapy as a novel and sustained therapeutic approach for chronic pain.