A systems medicine research approach for studying alcohol addiction

Rainer Spanagel, Daniel Durstewitz, Anita Hansson, Andreas Heinz, Falk Kiefer, Georg Köhr, Franziska Matthäus, Markus M. Nöthen, Hamid R. Noori, Klaus Obermayer, Marcella Rietschel, Patrick Schloss, Henrike Scholz, Gunter Schumann, Michael Smolka, Wolfgang Sommer, Valentina Vengeliene, Henrik Walter, Wolfgang Wurst, Uli S. ZimmermannSven Stringer, Yannick Smits, Eske M. Derks

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

77 Scopus citations

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, about 2 billion people drink alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption can result in alcohol addiction, which is one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric diseases afflicting our society today. Prevention and intervention of alcohol binging in adolescents and treatment of alcoholism are major unmet challenges affecting our health-care system and society alike. Our newly formed German SysMedAlcoholism consortium is using a new systems medicine approach and intends (1) to define individual neurobehavioral risk profiles in adolescents that are predictive of alcohol use disorders later in life and (2) to identify new pharmacological targets and molecules for the treatment of alcoholism. To achieve these goals, we will use omics-information from epigenomics, genetics transcriptomics, neurodynamics, global neurochemical connectomes and neuroimaging (IMAGEN; Schumann et al.) to feed mathematical prediction modules provided by two Bernstein Centers for Computational Neurosciences (Berlin and Heidelberg/Mannheim), the results of which will subsequently be functionally validated in independent clinical samples and appropriate animal models. This approach will lead to new early intervention strategies and identify innovative molecules for relapse prevention that will be tested in experimental human studies. This research program will ultimately help in consolidating addiction research clusters in Germany that can effectively conduct large clinical trials, implement early intervention strategies and impact political and healthcare decision makers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)883-896
Number of pages14
JournalAddiction Biology
Volume18
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Alcohol addiction
  • brain bank
  • epigenetics
  • genome-wide association study (GWAS)
  • imaging genetics
  • inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPS)
  • mathematical modeling
  • relapse models
  • transcriptomics

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