# Cooperative mechanisms of HIV and opiods in pain pathogenisis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · 2020 · $657,532

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Opioid-based analgesics are commonly used for temporal relief of severe pain in HIV-1/AIDS patients.
However, recent clinical data show that chronic opioid treatment causes a heightened pain state
(hyperalgesia). This debilitating side effect requires escalating dosages of the analgesics in order to be
effective, and thus may directly contribute to opioid overdose and epidemics. To prevent this clinically
important side effect, it is necessary to understand how chronic use of opioids causes hyperalgesia in HIV
patients. In the HIV-1 gp120 mouse model that recapitulates extensive pain-related pathologies of HIV human
patients, we simulate morphine exacerbation of gp120-induced pain. The goal of this project is to elucidate the
pathogenic mechanism by which morphine potentiates HIV-associated pain. Our prior work reveals that
neuroinflammation in the spinal cord dorsal horn (SDH) is a cardinal neuropathology in HIV patients with
neuropathic pain. Based on our preliminary studies, we propose that neuroinflammation is a convergent
neuropathological mechanism by which gp120 and opioids cooperate to potentiate pathological pain. Our
preliminary studies further show that gp120 and morphine elicit neuroinflammation via overlapped but distinct
molecular pathways. We hypothesize that morphine and gp120 synergize pain pathogenesis by co-activating
the neuroinflammatory pathways. The proposed research is to test this central hypothesis by elucidating the
roles of these pathways in pain pathogenesis induced by gp120 and morphine alone or in combination. We will
use interdisciplinary approaches of protein analysis, single cell transcriptome analysis, whole cell patch
recording and behavioral testing. Results from these studies will significantly improve our understanding of the
mechanism by which morphine exacerbates HIV-associated pain.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017022
- **Project number:** 5R01DA050530-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON
- **Principal Investigator:** JIN M CHUNG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $657,532
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017022

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017022, Cooperative mechanisms of HIV and opiods in pain pathogenisis (5R01DA050530-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017022. Licensed CC0.

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