Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Alerts
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Author's Takes
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Aging (Jul 2022)
    • Next-Generation Sequencing in Medicine (Jun 2022)
    • New Therapeutic Targets in Cardiovascular Diseases (Mar 2022)
    • Immunometabolism (Jan 2022)
    • Circadian Rhythm (Oct 2021)
    • Gut-Brain Axis (Jul 2021)
    • Tumor Microenvironment (Mar 2021)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Commentaries
    • Concise Communication
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoint
    • Top read articles
  • Clinical Medicine
  • JCI This Month
    • Current issue
    • Past issues

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Author's Takes
  • In-Press Preview
  • Commentaries
  • Concise Communication
  • Editorials
  • Viewpoint
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Alerts
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
A new splice of life for the μ-opioid receptor
Michael J. Iadarola, … , Matthew R. Sapio, Andrew J. Mannes
Michael J. Iadarola, … , Matthew R. Sapio, Andrew J. Mannes
Published May 26, 2015
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2015;125(7):2558-2561. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI82060.
View: Text | PDF
Commentary

A new splice of life for the μ-opioid receptor

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

μ-Opioid agonists mediate their analgesic effect through GPCRs that are generated via alternate splicing of the Oprm1 transcript. While the majority of μ-opioids interact with receptors comprising the canonical 7 transmembrane (7TM) domain, a recently identified class of μ-opioids appears to require a 6TM domain variant. In this issue of the JCI, Lu and colleagues provide an in vivo proof-of-concept demonstration that a 6TM isoform of the μ-opioid receptor can support functional analgesia in Oprm1-deficent animals. The 6TM isoform was pharmacologically distinct from the canonical 7TM μ-opioid receptor, and 6TM agonists had a reduced side effect profile, which confers a strong therapeutic advantage over standard opioid analgesics. The observations of Lu et al. extend the reach of opioid-receptor neurobiology and pharmacology into a new era of analgesic discovery. This advance emerges from a series of fundamental research analyses in which elements of the endogenous opioid system were frequently in the vanguard.

Authors

Michael J. Iadarola, Matthew R. Sapio, Andrew J. Mannes

×

Full Text PDF | Download (252.27 KB)


Copyright © 2022 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts