Transcriptomic biomarkers in neuropathic pain: insights from high-throughput sequencing studies

Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition caused by lesions or diseases affecting the somatosensory nervous system and represents a major clinical challenge due to its persistence and limited response to conventional treatments. Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies have enabled comprehensive characterization of molecular changes associated with neuropathic pain. Transcriptomic approaches, particularly RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), allow large-scale profiling of gene expression changes in key nociceptive structures such as dorsal root ganglia, spinal cord, and injured peripheral nerves. These studies have revealed transcriptional alterations related to neuroinflammation, immune signaling, and synaptic plasticity. The increasing availability of transcriptomic datasets has also highlighted the importance of bioinformatic approaches for interpreting large-scale biological data. Computational analyses enable the identification of molecular signatures, regulatory networks, and candidate biomarkers associated with neuropathic pain. This scoping review summarizes current transcriptomic studies and discusses how bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput datasets contributes to biomarker discovery and improved mechanistic understanding of chronic pain disorders.