Functional genomics strategies to identify susceptibility genes and treatment targets in alcohol dependence.
Genetic factors contribute to alcohol dependence through two main categories of mechanisms. The 50-60% heritability observed in this disorder is presumably conferred by polymorphic variants, encoding functionally altered proteins, or leading to differential transcriptional activity. Secondly, long term changes during the process of developing dependence are likely encoded by persistent changes in gene expression. Thus, genetic and environmental factors interact at the level of the transcriptome, making this an attractive level of analysis. For this purpose, we have applied differential display and more recently Affymetrix oligonucleotide gene arrays to models of genetic susceptibility and alcohol-induced neuroadaptation.
Heilig
Markus
M
Division of Psychiatry, NEUROTEC Department, Karolinska Institutet, M57 Huddinge University Hospital, S-141 86 Stockholm, Sweden. markus.heilig@neurotec.ki.se
Sommer
Wolfgang
W
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D009420:Nervous System / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis