New Video Available: Developing Peptide Therapeutics For Targeted Pain Management

Watch the full presentation now in the Media Center

In Episode 18 of the PURPOSE Professional Series, Eric Gross, MD, PhD, presents peptide therapeutics as non-opioid strategies to control acute postsurgical pain and prevent chronic pain development. Dr. Gross highlights an intracellular TRPV1 peptide decoy derived from avian physiology that selectively sequesters second messengers to block nociceptive signaling without triggering classical hyperthermic side effects. He also details redesigned NEMO binding peptides that disrupt the IKK complex to inhibit NF-κB nuclear translocation and suppress pro-inflammatory cytokine drivers like IL-6 and IL-1β in human and rodent macrophages.

Key Learnings:

• TRPV1 Decoy Strategy: Learn how targeting intracellular second messenger binding sites instead of the main receptor pore attenuates nociceptive hypersensitivity while preserving normal thermoregulation.
  
  

• Targeting NF-κB via NEMO: Examine how structural crystallization maps guided the optimization of NEMO binding peptides to block macrophage-driven inflammatory cascades linked to chronic pain transitions.
  
  

• Pharmacokinetic Edge in Surgery: Discover how short-acting peptide kinetics and protease metabolism offer precise intraoperative control without CYP450 drug interactions, setting the stage for depot-based postoperative formulations.