{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T01:55:43Z","timestamp":1760234143981,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,19]],"date-time":"2021-04-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1618790400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: The aetiology and pathomechanism of fibromyalgia syndrome 12 (FMS) as one of chronic pain syndromes still need to be further elucidated. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway has been proposed as a novel approach in pain management. Since the major symptom of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients is pain, it became of interest whether MAPK pathways, such as the stress-activated p38 MAPK\/MK2 axis, are activated in FMS patients. Therefore, this study aimed at determining p38 MAPK\/MK2 in FMS patients. Materials and Methods: Phosphorylation of MAPK-activated protein kinases 2 (MK2), a direct target of p38 MAPK, was measured in monocytes of FMS and healthy controls (HCs) to monitor the activity of this pathway. Results: The mean level of phosphorylated MK2 was fivefold higher in FMS patients as compared to HCs (p &lt; 0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that antidepressants did not influence the activity of MK2 in FMS patients. Conclusions: This result indicates that the p38\/MK2 pathway could be involved in the pathomechanism of FMS, could act as a clinical marker for FMS, and could be a possible target for pain management in FMS patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina57040396","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,19]],"date-time":"2021-04-19T11:21:38Z","timestamp":1618831298000},"page":"396","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["The p38\/MK2 Axis in Monocytes of Fibromyalgia Syndrome Patients: An Explorative Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"57","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5547-3169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Boya","family":"Nugraha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str.1, 30625 Hannover, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Renate","family":"Scheibe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Cell Biochemistry, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str.1, 30625 Hannover, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christoph","family":"Korallus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str.1, 30625 Hannover, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Matthias","family":"Gaestel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Cell Biochemistry, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str.1, 30625 Hannover, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christoph","family":"Gutenbrunner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str.1, 30625 Hannover, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jocn.2016.12.014","article-title":"Alterations of brain activity in fibromyalgia patients","volume":"38","author":"Sawaddiruk","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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