According to a new study published in Nature by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, there is a potential link between alcoholism, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders .
We are looking at the first study of its kind in the field of addiction genetics using a multimic approach (omics sciences focus on the study of large sets of biological molecules) to provide a large list of causal candidate genes associated with drug use. of alcohol.
Multimic approach
While previous studies have identified loci (genetic regions) associated with alcohol use, this study aimed to identify the variants and the genes themselves.
The research team integrated multimicrobial data , using methods based on Mendelian randomization, on the largest available transcriptomic and epigenomic data from brain tissues and myeloid cells. Using data derived from these tissues, the team mapped and identified potential variants and candidate genes, including the SPI1 and MAPT genes, associated with alcoholism.
SPI1 and MAPT have also been found to be associated with susceptibility to other psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease. According to lead author Alison Goate , Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Neurosciences at Mount Sinai:
This work could lead to novel therapies for the treatment of alcohol use disorders.