A National Directory of Drug Treatment Centers and Alcohol Treatment Centers, Therapists and Specialists. A free, simple directory providing assistance and guidance for those seeking help regarding alcohol addiction, drug addiction, dependency and many other conditions that affect the mind, body and soul.
Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcohol And Cocaine Dependence Linked To The Tachykinin Receptor 3 Gene

* The search for genes associated with alcohol dependence (AD) has recently been extended to the tachykinin receptor 3 gene (TACR3), located within a broad region on chromosome 4q.

* Researchers have found that seven of the nine single nucleotide polymorphisms – DNA sequence variations – in the 3′ region of TACR3 have a significant association with AD as well as cocaine dependence.

Previous family-based research had linked a broad region on chromosome 4q with alcohol dependence (AD). A new study has found that nine of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) – DNA sequence variations – in the 3′ region of the tachykinin receptor 3 gene (TACR3), located within chromosome 4q, have a significant association with AD, particularly those with more severe AD, and co-existing cocaine dependence.

Results will be published in the June issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at OnlineEarly.

“We believe it is important to identify genes contributing to AD for two primary reasons,” said Tatiana M. Foroud, director of the division of hereditary genomics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and first author of the study.

“First, better treatments can be developed which would improve the success rate for those wishing to end their AD,” she said. “Second, being able to identify those at greater risk for AD at a young age would allow interventions to be initiated earlier, potentially reducing the likelihood that the individual will become AD.”

“The past few years have been an incredibly exciting time in gene identification,” added Danielle Dick, assistant professor of psychiatry, psychology, and human and molecular genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Scientists are now entering an era where genes are being associated with AD and, importantly, these findings are replicating across samples,” she said. “We know that AD shows a lot of variability, with affected individuals differing on many dimensions, such as age of onset, severity of symptoms and other co-occurring psychiatric and drug problems. This study makes an effort to understand how the TACR3 gene might contribute to some of this variability, rather than simply treating all AD as the same.”

This study is part of the larger Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), said Foroud, which had previously detected a link between AD and a region on chromosome 4q. “We believe it is likely that multiple genes contributing to AD lie within this chromosomal region,” she said. “Given that several lines of evidence suggested that TACR3 was a good candidate gene, we decided to not only test for an association with AD, but also expand our analyses to include additional phenotypes, such as cocaine dependence.”

Using COGA data, researchers searched for an association between AD and 30 SNPs throughout TACR3 among 219 European American families (n=1,923 genotyped individuals). Researchers also looked for any association with cocaine dependence.

“We have identified a gene that we believe contributes to the risk for AD,” said Foroud, “and is, furthermore, particularly important for those individuals who meet not only the DSM-IV criteria for AD but also the more stringent ICD-10 criteria. Furthermore, we found that this gene was also strongly associated with cocaine dependence.”

Foroud said these results help support the theory that there are many genes, each with small individual effects, that contribute to the risk for AD. “Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of studying multiple phenotypes – such as alcohol and cocaine dependence – to try to understand how a gene might contribute to multiple disease risk.” She and her colleagues plan to continue analyzing TACR3 in the COGA sample.

Dick is optimistic about the potential returns on future genetic research. “While any one gene on its own just has a very small effect in altering risk,” she said, “once we catalog many of the genes involved in the development of dependence, this could lead to better individual-risk assessment, which may lead to improved prevention and intervention programs.”
_____
source: Medilexicon

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Alcohol-fuelled disorder costs every home

Alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder is costing every household almost £600 a year as the true impact of the country’s drink problem is exposed for the first time. Coping with the effects of drunken rowdiness and offending, including policing, health care and loss of earnings, leaves England and Wales with an annual bill of up to….

Continue reading

Hit the books not the bottle: Reduce binge drinking

Despite the fact that more than 40 percent of college students are binge drinkers, do not let end-of-the-year stress drive you to hit the bottle instead of the books! Binge drinking is defined by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as the consumption of large quantities of alcohol in about two hours, leading….

Continue reading

Driving After Binge Drinking More Common Than Believed

Nearly one in eight binge drinkers say they get behind the wheel and drive within two hours of drinking, U.S. government researchers report. The new research adds a timeline and other new information to what’s known about drinking and driving, said study author Dr. Timothy Naimi, a physician with the alcohol team at the U.S…..

Continue reading

Where do calls go?

Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Calls to any general helpline will be answered or returned by one of the treatment providers listed, each of which is a paid advertiser.

By calling the helpline you agree to the terms of use. We do not receive any commission or fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a caller chooses. There is no obligation to enter treatment.

I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE NOWI NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE NOW 888-647-0579Response time about 1 min | Response rate 100%
Who Answers?