Molecular Info®

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DREAM Is a Critical Transcriptional Repressor for Pain Modulation Hai-Ying M. Cheng, Graham M. Pitcher, Steven R. Laviolette, Ian Q. Whishaw, Kit I. Tong, Lisa K. Kockeritz, Teiji Wada, Nicholas A. Joza, Michael Crackower, Jason Goncalves, Ildiko Sarosi, James R. Woodgett, Antonio J. Oliveira-dos-Santos, Mitsuhiko Ikura, Derek van der Kooy8, Michael W. Salter, and Josef M. Penninger The Cell, January 2002, 108: 31-43. The calcium-sensing protein DREAM is a transcriptional repressor involved in modulating pain. dream-/- mice displayed markedly reduced responses in models of acute thermal, mechanical, and visceral pain. dream-/- mice also exhibited reduced pain behaviors in models of chronic neuropathic and inflammatory pain. However, dream-/- mice showed no major defects in motor function or learning and memory. Mice lacking DREAM had elevated levels of prodynorphin mRNA and dynorphin A peptides in the spinal cord, and the reduction of pain behaviors in dream-/- mice was mediated through dynorphin-selective kappa-opiate receptors. DREAM appears to be a critical transcriptional repressor in pain processing.