Helping the immune system heal after limb injuries to reduce long-term pain
Official title: Autonomic Regulation of the Immunological Response to Limb Injury
Funded at Veterans Admin Palo Alto Health Care Sys · NIH-11400846 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks for ways to calm nerve-driven immune reactions after limb injuries so people recover faster with less chronic pain.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Veterans Admin Palo Alto Health Care Sys NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Palo Alto, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2015 |
| Project end | July 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| NIH project number | 5I01RX001475-11 |
| Project ID | NIH-11400846 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people who experienced traumatic limb injury and now have ongoing pain or disability, or those willing to provide blood or tissue samples for research.
✕Less likely to help
Patients without limb trauma-related problems or those unable to provide samples or attend study visits are unlikely to directly benefit from this project.
What this research studies
If you have persistent pain after a broken or injured limb, this project connects what happens in your nerves to changes in the immune system that can prolong pain. Researchers will use a well-established rodent fracture model alongside blood and tissue samples from patients with chronic limb pain to track immune signals like IL-6, autoantibodies, and complement activation. The team plans to interrupt sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nerve signals that may trigger harmful immune responses and measure whether that improves healing and function. Findings could point to new treatments that stop immune-driven pain early and improve recovery.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to treatments that reduce chronic pain and improve recovery after limb injuries by blocking harmful nerve-driven immune responses.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have linked immune changes to chronic pain and shown benefits from targeting inflammatory mediators, but using autonomic nervous system modulation to prevent post-injury autoimmunity is a relatively new approach.
Where this research is happening
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Veterans Admin Palo Alto Health Care Sys
Palo Alto, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Clark, David J. — Veterans Admin Palo Alto Health Care Sys
- Study coordinator: Clark, David J.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.