# Discovery of Biomarker Signatures Prognostic for Neuropathic Pain after Acute Spinal Cord Injury

> **NIH NIH R33** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2024 · $1,401,149

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Debilitating neuropathic pain occurs in 40-70% of people who suffer from spinal cord injury
(SCI). It is unknown why, with similar injuries, one person will develop neuropathic pain while
another will not. There are no distinguishing characteristics to identify who will develop
neuropathic pain.
The objective of this research is to develop a biomarker signature prognostic of SCI-induced
neuropathic pain. The ultimate goal is to identify new non-addictive treatments for its prevention.
R61 Phase Specific Aim 1: To identify autoantibodies (ab) in plasma samples from acute SCI
patients to CNS autoantigens and determine the relationship between ab levels to the
development of NP.
R61 Phase Specific Aim 2: To identify the autoantibody combination with maximal prognostic
accuracy for the development of NP at 6 months after SCI.
R33 Phase Specific Aim 3: Develop and optimize an assay to simultaneously measure
several autoantibodies (to be determined during R61) and independently validate the prognostic
efficacy for NP using plasma samples collected prospectively.
The research will use banked and prospectively enrolled samples from SCI patients and healthy
controls. Subjects' pain phenotypes will be carefully characterized. Techniques capitalizing on
antibody-antigen binding will be used to optimize an autoantibody biomarker signature
predictive of neuropathic pain.
Establishing a panel will refine the prognostic value of these autoantibodies as biomarkers in
order to detect those who are vulnerable to developing neuropathic pain with high reliability and
may be used to facilitate the future development of non-addictive pain therapeutics.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10618735
- **Project number:** 4R33NS113329-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Georgene W Hergenroeder
- **Activity code:** R33 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,401,149
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10618735

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10618735, Discovery of Biomarker Signatures Prognostic for Neuropathic Pain after Acute Spinal Cord Injury (4R33NS113329-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10618735. Licensed CC0.

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