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Cdk5: An Emerging Kinase in Pain Signaling

Tej Kumar Pareek, Lisa Zipp and John J Letterio

Pain is an important survival mechanism for an organism. It can turn into severe mental and physical disorder however, if the molecular and/or cellular pathways involved in pain signaling are altered. Chronic pain is characterized by an altered pain perception that includes allodynia (a response to a normally non-noxious stimulus) and hyperalgesia (an exaggerated response to a normally noxious stimulus). Past few years of pain research has been mainly focused on precise understanding of the molecular and cellular nociceptive signatures altered during chronic pain, so that more effective pain relievers can be developed. The importance of protein kinases in normal cellular homeostasis
and disease pathogenesis has evolved rapidly in the past few decades. The recent advancement defining the role of multiple protein kinases in regulating neuronal plasticity and pain sensitization has gained enough attention of pharmaceutical industry to develop specific and selective kinase inhibitors as analgesics. Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is one such emerging kinase in pain biology. We will discuss here the recent advancement and therapeutic potential of Cdk5 in pain signaling.