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Story summary
- University of Colorado Anschutz researchers found blood exosomes may drive chronic pain after shingles, which affect 90% of people.
- Their Annals of Neurology paper, led by Andrew Bubak, PhD, noted 10-18% of shingles patients develop post-herpetic neuralgia.
- Exosomes from post-herpetic neuralgia patients caused inflammation, disrupted signaling, and blocked neuronal growth-cone formation in healthy nerves.
- Neurons exposed to these exosomes showed stunted outgrowth and heightened pain sensitivity; antivirals help fewer than 50%.