Assessing the translational value of animal models in developing pain-targeting therapies for clinical osteoarthritis
Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly prevalent and disabling disease, with pain as its most debilitating symptom. Despite extensive preclinical research, no therapy has successfully translated from animal models into routine clinical use. Commonly used animal models (e.g., acute, surgically, or chemically induced OA in young, single-sex animals) often fail to reflect the chronic and multifactorial human condition, which is often seen in older, postmenopausal women with comorbidities and mixed nociceptive–neuropathic pain. This review aims to identify animal models and pain assessment methods for predicting drug efficacy in OA pain management and to examine the translational gap, focusing on pain as a primary endpoint in animal and human clinical studies. Ultimately, we emphasize the need for phenotype-specific, clinically relevant models to improve translational validity and accelerate the development of effective OA pain therapies.
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BibTeX
@article{stubelius2026assessing,
title = {{Assessing the translational value of animal models in developing pain-targeting therapies for clinical osteoarthritis}},
author = {Alexandra Stubelius and Cecilia Aulin and Carla Cunha and Luminita Labusca and Christos Kontogiorgis and Gina Lisignoli and Ali Mobasheri and Rosa Maria Nothnagel and Sylvia Nürnberger and Jaqueline Lourdes Rios and Nico Sollmann and Martijn Van den Bosch and Lucienne Vonk and Carmen Corciulo},
journal = {Communications Medicine},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s43856-026-01926-7},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-026-01926-7},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Assessing the translational value of animal models in developing pain-targeting therapies for clinical osteoarthritis
AU - Alexandra Stubelius
AU - Cecilia Aulin
AU - Carla Cunha
AU - Luminita Labusca
AU - Christos Kontogiorgis
AU - Gina Lisignoli
AU - Ali Mobasheri
AU - Rosa Maria Nothnagel
AU - Sylvia Nürnberger
AU - Jaqueline Lourdes Rios
AU - Nico Sollmann
AU - Martijn Van den Bosch
AU - Lucienne Vonk
AU - Carmen Corciulo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Communications Medicine
DO - 10.1038/s43856-026-01926-7
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-026-01926-7
AB - Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly prevalent and disabling disease, with pain as its most debilitating symptom. Despite extensive preclinical research, no therapy has successfully translated from animal models into routine clinical use. Commonly used animal models (e.g., acute, surgically, or chemically induced OA in young, single-sex animals) often fail to reflect the chronic and multifactorial human condition, which is often seen in older, postmenopausal women with comorbidities and mixed nociceptive–neuropathic pain. This review aims to identify animal models and pain assessment methods for predicting drug efficacy in OA pain management and to examine the translational gap, focusing on pain as a primary endpoint in animal and human clinical studies. Ultimately, we emphasize the need for phenotype-specific, clinically relevant models to improve translational validity and accelerate the development of effective OA pain therapies.
SN - 2730-664X
ER -