Evidence for a Role of Nerve Injury in Painful Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: A Cross-Sectional Proteomic Analysis of Human Cerebrospinal Fluid

CSF was examined for differential protein expression in healthy control participants, pain-free adults with asymptomatic intervertebral DD, and LBP patients with painful intervertebral DD. While DD was related to inflammation regardless of pain status, painful degeneration was associated with markers linked to nerve injury.