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According to researchers, a Scottish woman in Scotland who feels virtually no pain suffers from the mutation of a previously unidentified gene.
Jo Cameron, who lives near Loch Ness in the Highlands, also experiences very little anxiety or fear and can improve wound healing.
The 71-year-old woman said throughout her life that she had not often noticed any cuts or burns before she could smell the scorched flesh and that the wounds tended to heal very quickly.
She was awarded the lowest score on a common anxiety scale and told researchers that she never panicked even in dangerous situations such as a recent road accident.
The retiree also reported lifelong memory loss, such as forgetting words or keys.
She said, "A few years ago, I did not know that the pain I was feeling was unusual. I thought it was normal.
"Learning fascinates me as much as everyone else.
"I would be delighted if research on my own genetics could help other people who are suffering."
She learned of the existence of this condition only at the age of 65 and sought treatment for a hip problem, which involved serious degeneration of the joints although it did not occur. felt no pain.
She was operated on at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and reported no pain thereafter, although the treatment is normally very painful.
Mrs. Cameron with her family (PA)
Dr. Devjit Srivastava, an NHS consultant in anesthesia and pain medicine, diagnosed her insensitivity to pain and she was referred to pain geneticists at UCL and at the University of New York. ; Oxford.
The scientists did a genetic analysis and found two noticeable mutations: one was a 'micro-deletion', or a tiny bit missing, in a pseudogene, which does not have all the features of regular genes.
The researchers dubbed it FAAH-OUT and also discovered that the woman had a neighboring gene mutation that controls the FAAH enzyme.
The FAAH gene is well known to researchers specializing in pain because it is involved in the signaling of endocannabinoids, essential to the sensation of pain, mood and memory.
Scientists discovered that mice lacking the FAAH gene had a reduced sensation of pain, accelerated wound healing, improved the memory of extinction of fear, and reduced anxiety.
Dr. James Cox of UCL Medicine, one of the lead authors of the paper, said, "We discovered that this woman had a particular genotype that reduced the activity of a gene already considered a potential target for treatment. pain and anxiety.
"Now that we are discovering the functioning of this newly identified gene, we hope to make further progress on new treatment targets."
The study is published in the British Journal of Anesthesia.
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