Sex-specific involvement of calcitonin gene-related peptide signaling for pain in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Summary: Multiple sclerosis (MS) often causes severe nerve pain that is very hard to treat with standard medicines. Did you know that women with MS are much more likely to suffer from this pain than men? Scientists wanted to find out why. Using mice with an MS-like disease, they discovered that female mice had changes in their nerve cells and higher levels of a pain-signaling chemical called CGRP. When the researchers blocked this chemical using a special targeted drug, the pain completely went away in the female mice! This exciting discovery suggests that targeting CGRP could be a highly promising new way to treat nerve pain specifically for women living with MS.