CLOSER inspection of the genes of alcoholics could lead to more effective, tailor-made treatments, say researchers from California and Australia. A team led by Ernest Noble of the University of California, Los Angeles, has found that a drug called bromocriptine helps some alcoholics beat their craving and avoid a relapse, but is of little benefit to others. The difference lies in their genetic make-up.
Noble and his Australian colleagues at the Royal Brisbane Hospital studied 83 Australian alcoholics who had been admitted to hospital. They found that 31 of the patients had a slightly modified version of the gene responsible for the production of a key brain protein. People with this modification are more likely to become addicted to alcohol, cocaine or nicotine, and, once addicted, find it harder to kick the habit.
快猫短视频s think this happens because those who have this 鈥渁lcoholism gene鈥� derive less pleasure from their daily activities than those with the more common version of the gene. As a result, they may be more likely to turn to drugs or drink.
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During the trial, some of the patients were treated with bromocriptine, and some were given a placebo. Bromocriptine mimics the actions of a brain chemical called dopamine, which is believed to play a key part in the biology of addiction.
The researchers found that the patients on bromocriptine who had the 鈥渁lcoholism gene鈥� felt less anxiety and craving for alcohol during withdrawal, and had a lower rate of relapse. However, those with the other version of the gene did only slightly better than people given the placebo. This suggests that bromocriptine would not be a very useful therapy for them. Noble reports the team鈥檚 findings in this month鈥檚 issue of Nature Medicine.
Noble stresses that more research needs to be done, and is starting a larger study. But if his findings are confirmed, alcoholics may need only a simple blood test to identify the type of therapy that would suit them best. If they carry the 鈥渁lcoholism gene鈥�, they could be treated with a drug such as bromocriptine. 鈥淚f not, rather than wasting money on a drug of that nature we can move into psychotherapy and other kinds of psychosocial approaches to treatment,鈥� he says.
Like all addictions, alcoholism is hard to cure: 18 months after treatment, as many as 90 per cent of patients have fallen off the wagon. While doctors recognise that there are different 鈥渢ypes鈥� of addicts, sociologically and biologically, there is still a 鈥渙ne size fits all鈥� approach to treatment.
鈥淢ost people who treat alcoholics would agree that there isn鈥檛 one single treatment package that fits everybody,鈥� says Harold Kalant, of the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, in Toronto. 鈥淚f you can individualise the treatment you stand a better chance of success.鈥�