Biological markers of cocaine addiction: implications for medications development.
The search for effective medications for cocaine addiction has been elusive. The failure to find such medications so far could be due to poor understanding of the underlying biology both in the premorbid condition and following the disease state of chronic cocaine use. Population heterogeneity could be a major factor in response to medications. In an attempt to highlight the issue of biomarkers we reviewed physiological, neuroendocrine and neuroimaging studies to identify specific biological changes/markers that could be used to characterize subgroups among chronic cocaine users. Merging the biology within medications studies of cocaine abusers could prove useful for targeting specific pharmacological agents to subgroups of patients, prediction of response to medication and relapse to use.
Elkashef
Ahmed
A
Division of Treatment, Research and Development (DTR&D), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. ae8a@nih.gov
Vocci
Frank
F
D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004596:Electroretinography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D008734:Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol / Q000097:blood*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D015415:Biomarkers; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D008734:Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D011388:Prolactin; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D006719:Homovanillic Acid