Genetic therapy for alcohol dependence
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, considered incurable problem that affects and destroys all areas of a person's life: body, psyche, social and mental aspects. It is believed that addiction is incurable because once a person has lost control over their drinking, it is almost impossible for them to regain control.
Alcohol dependence is formed due to periodic increases in dopamine levels that occur after drinking alcoholic beverages. With systematic "libations" the brain adapts, the dopamine surges are smoothed out, and the person needs more and more alcohol or more frequent use of alcohol to get pleasure. This is roughly how alcohol dependence occurs.
Specialists at the University of Oregon, together with collaborators at Ohio University, have attempted to eliminate addiction by "negative adaptation" of the brain.
Increasing dopamine levels can be achieved with some medications, and it is not necessary to affect the entire brain, but only specific neural centers responsible for the sensation of pleasure.These centers are part of the general reinforcement system, the so-called "reward apparatus". To this apparatus belongs the ventral zone of the midbrain covering - a dopamine transporter. In this zone, experts have inserted an additional copy of the GDNF gene, which encodes a neurotrophic factor - a protein substance that allows nerve cells to develop, function and survive. There are a number of such factors. GDNF protein is produced by service brain cells, but it may not be enough if the "dependent" brain starts to under-report dopamine.
The experiment was conducted on macaques addicted to alcohol. An additional gene copy was injected directly into their ventral zone, and adeno-associated virus was used to transport the gene into the cells.
About four weeks after the procedure, the monkeys' addiction to alcohol suddenly decreased: their alcohol consumption dropped by 90%. Expectedly, an additional gene stimulation of dopamine neurons occurred, as a result, the condition of nerve cells improved and dopamine production increased. Due to this, the reward system lost its dependence on alcohol.
Whether this method will become useful in relation to alcohol-dependent people is still unknown, but the situation is likely to become clearer in the near future. Specialists suggest that the adeno-associated virus in combination with an additional gene should be used first to treat the most severe cases of alcoholism. And this is not due to the fact that we are talking about genetic therapy, but due to the need for intervention on the structures of the brain. It is also possible that human alcohol addiction has a more complex mechanism of development than in monkeys.
The scientific work is featured in an article in the popular publication Nature Medicine