Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the University of Manitoba and St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre in Canada, have identified a molecular signaling pathway that, when blocked, promotes sensory neuron growth and prevents or reverses peripheral neuropathy in cell and rodent models of type 1 and 2 diabetes, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy and HIV. Peripheral neuropathy (PR) is a condition resulting from damage to the peripheral nervous system — the vast communications network that transmits information between the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the rest of the body. Symptoms range from numbness, tingling and muscle weakness to severe pain, paralysis and organ dysfunction. An estimated 20 million Americans have some form of PR, which can be a symptom of many diseases, including diabetes and HIV, or a side effect of some chemotherapies.
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