Development of a novel in vitro assay to screen for neuroprotective drugs against iatrogenic neurite shortening.

This work tries to help overcome the lack of relevant translational screening assays, as a limitation for the identification of novel analgesics for neuropathic pain. Hyperexcitability and neurite shortening are common adverse effects of antiviral and antitumor drugs, leading to neuropathic pain. Now, as seen in the drug screening that we developed here, a high-content microscopy-based assay with immortalized dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons (differentiated F11 cells) allowed to identify drugs able to protect against the iatrogenic neurite shortening induced by the antitumor drug vincristine and the antiviral drug rilpivirine.