Having a little too much alcohol once in a while will not cause lasting damage to a healthy person. Still, it is a different story if an individual regularly drinks alcohol heavily. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive drinking accounts for 1 in 5 deaths among individuals aged 20-49. Conventional approaches in treating chronic abuse, such as counseling and medication, can help, but many people relapse.
A Promising Gene Therapy Procedure
A group of US researchers tried to address chronic alcohol abuse by using gene therapy to reset the dopamine pathway in the brain. It was found that injecting the experimental therapy into the brains of monkeys dramatically suppressed their craving for alcohol over one year.
The research began by giving four rhesus macaques increasing doses of alcohol until they eventually developed an addiction to it. Since they were allowed to drink as much alcohol as they wanted, they voluntarily consumed nine drinks a day for a human.
The therapy involved delivering a gene that makes glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a type of protein that has been known for stimulating dopamine production. In this experiment, the GDNF gene was packed into engineered viruses that could carry genetic material into cells.
On either side of the monkey's skull, two small holes were made where the researchers injected the viruses into a bundle of neurons near the brainstem called the ventral tegmental area. These neurons are involved in reward processing, making dopamine, and distributing them throughout the brain.
After the first administration of the therapy, the research team imposed an initial eight-week abstinence phase on the monkeys. Then they allowed the animals to drink again for four weeks, where water is offered alongside alcohol. This challenge was repeated five more times for one year, alternating between a four-week abstinence and a four-week drinking period.
When alcohol was reintroduced for the first time, the animals who were administered the gene therapy showed a decrease in drinking by 50% compared to the control group. Every time alcohol is reintroduced after an abstinence period, the monkeys who received the therapy drank less than they did before treatment. By the end of the year, these animals dropped their alcohol consumption by over 90%.
Concerns About Gene Therapy for Addiction
Gene therapy refers to using genes to treat, prevent, or cure a disease or medical disorder. It works by adding new copies of a broken gene or replacing a defective one with its healthy version.
One common feature among individuals who manifest addiction is that there is a reduced number of available dopamine receptors in the reward region of their brain. Certain substances trigger the release of this brain chemical, providing a person with a temporary rush of pleasure. If dopamine is not regulated, the nervous system will demand more and more of this feeling, which may lead to addiction.
In using gene therapy, the neurochemicals are rerouted by maintaining optimal cellular function. This means the genetic material can be manipulated to favor healthy behavior over harmful urges.
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