Genetic research to target drug addiction

A $5.85-million federal contract will allow researchers to trace the effects of drug abuse on the body.

By JAY CRIDLIN
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 18, 2002

TAMPA -- The gene chip in Dr. Fiona Crawford's hand is barely an inch in diameter. But in the coming years, researchers say, it could have a huge impact on drug addiction treatment.

With the help of a new $5.85-million federal contract, Crawford and other researchers at the Roskamp Institute and James A. Haley VA Medical Center at the University of South Florida will use hundreds of chips like this one to trace the effects of drug abuse on the body at levels beyond DNA.

"We may all be carrying a certain genetic loading that gives us a predisposition to become addicted," said Crawford, Roskamp's associate director and the study's lab research director.

By analyzing that genetic makeup, Crawford said, researchers may someday develop specific treatments -- such as a pill -- that can prevent people from becoming addicted.

The contract, announced Thursday at USF, will put the school among the nation's top research universities when it comes to drug addiction treatments.

"It means that we accelerate the pace of our research by a factor that's really almost hard to estimate," said Dr. John Schinka, the VA hospital's neuropsychology director and the study's clinical research director.

While genetic research is fairly common, research at the genomic and proteomic level is still in its infancy, Crawford said. Many elements of addiction can't be detected by simply studying DNA.

"The genomic and proteomic approach allows us to see all of the genes and all of the proteins that may be involved together," she said. "That will then take us into starting to unravel the molecular mechanisms that lead to folks becoming addicted."

Unlike many contracts that provide funding for additional research capabilities, this contract will go strictly toward purchasing equipment.

For example, the 1-inch by 1-inch gene chips contain blood samples from drug addicts before and after taking a drug. Each one contains all 30,000 known genes in the human body, which can be analyzed and used to determine whether any contain proteins linked to addiction.

The chips cost $750 each, and researchers will need hundreds for the study.

"This $6-million really allows us to get to the true cutting edge, from an equipment standpoint," Schinka said. "We've spent the last five years looking at the relationship of just four genes to substance abuse. This technology allows us to look at 30,000 genes at a time. It's a tremendous change in research capability."

The contract came from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center.

Robert Roskamp, the institute's benefactor, said the addiction study will be a central focus of researchers there, but he said they also will use the equipment to further Alzheimer's research.

"It's going to be a win-win," he said.

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