Pain that won't quit.

Abstract

The article discusses chronic pain. Topics include Jama Bond, who suffers from a condition that causes heat- and pressure-related pain, called erythromelalgia (EM), the role of nerve cells, called nociceptors, in pain, Stephen Waxman's and Sulayman Dib-Hajj's study of the role of mutations in voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) channels, designated Nav 1.7, Nav 1.8, and Nav 1.9, in pain, and biopharmaceutical company Pfizer's development of drugs targeting Nav 1.7 and Nav 1.8. INSET: FINDINGS.