A method of treatment of pain in a person with a D peptide chemokine receptor antagonist (CRA), and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is disclosed. Because chemokines desensitize opiate receptors and enhance the perception of pain said D-peptide CRA, given with a suboptimal dose of an opioid, such as morphine, will restore opioid analgesic efficacy by blocking the cognate chemokine ligand from binding to its receptor and desensitizing the opioid receptor. This strategy of combining a suboptimal dose of morphine with a CRA enhances the potency of morphine, permitting use of lower doses of morphine to obtain equivalent and near maximal analgesia. Lower morphine (opioid) doses have less risk of adverse effects, and potentially also of development of tolerance and dependence.
Use of an all-D-pentapeptide chemokine antagonist to reduce opioid dose in a person with pain