European researchers said genetic differences are responsible for variations in pain perceptions and different reactions to pain medications, suggesting the need for therapies that are tailored to each patient, according to a Medical News Today report.
Pain researchers told the EFIC Congress in Hamburg, Germany, that certain properties of genetic material govern the activity of genes linked to production of pain-enhancing or pain-inhibiting neurotransmitters and the metabolism and absorption of drugs.
Researchers have found that influencing factors for pain perception and response to medications are based on genetic differences, such as the sequence of base pairs in DNA, and on epigenetics, cell properties that are both imprinted and inherited.
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