title: From genetic studies to precision medicine in alcohol dependence.
abstract: Genetic factors contribute to more than 50% of the variation in the vulnerability to alcohol dependence (AD). Although significant advances have been made in medications for AD, these medications do not work for all people. Precise tailoring of medicinal strategies for individual alcoholic patients is needed to achieve optimal outcomes. This review updates the most promising information on genetic variants in AD, which may be useful for improving diagnostic, therapeutic, and monitoring strategies. We describe genetic candidates of various neurotransmitter and enzyme systems. In addition to biological and allelic associations with AD, genetic effects on AD-related phenotypes and treatment responses have also been described. Gene-gene and gene-environment interactions have been considered. Potential applications of genomewide and epigenetic approaches for identifying genetic biomarkers of AD have been discussed. Overall, the application of genetic findings in precision medicine for AD will likely involve an integrated approach that distinguishes effect sizes of specific genetic predictors with regard to sex, pharmacotherapy, ethnicity, and AD-related aspects and considers gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. Our work may pave the way toward more precise treatment for AD that could ultimately improve clinical management and interventions.
authors.affiliation: aNational Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University bInstitute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital and Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Peking University cPeking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University dBeijing Hui Long Guan Hospital eBeijing Key Laboratory on Drug Dependence Research fThe State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs gKey Laboratory for Neuroscience of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Healthy, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yankun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy*; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D006801:Humans; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods*