Pain is a complex bio-psycho-social phenomenon, which was redefined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) in 2020 as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with or similar to actual or potential tissue damage". Pain is broadly divided into acute pain and chronic pain, defined by time. Acute pain is mainly caused by surgery and affects early mobilization as a prerequisite for improved recovery and reduced risk of complications.

Acute severe pain increases the risk of transition to chronic postoperative pain and the development of postoperative confusion. Therefore, timely control of acute pain is particularly important. As one of the most common reasons for adults to seek medical treatment, chronic pain has a prevalence rate between 11% and 40%, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. An estimated 20.4 percent (50 million) of American adults suffer from chronic pain.

In addition to pain, chronic pain also predisposes to comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. The economic cost of chronic pain is enormous. A 2010 report by the Institute of Medicine estimated that chronic pain afflicts about one-third of Americans, costing $560 billion to $635 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity. Therefore, pain, as one of the most important problems in the fields of medicine and public health, has important research significance. So far, the mechanism of pain has not been clearly studied, so there is an urgent need to understand the mechanism of pain for better treatment.

Recently, researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, published an article titled "IGF/IGF-1R signal pathway in pain: a promising therapeutic target" in Int. J. Biol. Sci. The study revealed that IGF/IGF-1R signal pathway may be a promising target for pain relief.

Pain is one of the most important problems in the field of medicine and public health, and has important research significance. Opioids remain the mainstay of pain relief today. However, its application has been limited due to its significant side effects. Therefore, it is imminent to develop new analgesic drugs. Many studies have found that the IGF/IGF-1R pathway plays an important role in the occurrence and development of pain.

Modulation of the IGF/IGF-1R pathway has a pronounced effect on pain. This article reviews and discusses the application prospect of IGF/IGF-1R signaling pathway in pain treatment. It also summarizes that IGF/IGF-1R regulates pain by acting on neuron excitability, neuroinflammation, glial cells, cell apoptosis, etc., but its mechanism in the development of pain still needs further study.

Many studies have found that the IGF/IGF-1R pathway plays an important role in the occurrence and development of pain. IGF/IGF-1R regulates pain by acting on neuronal excitability, neuroinflammation, glial cells, apoptosis, etc. Taken together, these studies suggest that the IGF/IGF-1R signaling pathway is a promising target for pain therapy, although further studies are needed in the future.