Further evidence for the association of GAL, GALR1 and NPY1R variants with Opioid Dependence

Abstract

Aim: Heroin addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease that has genetic and environmental, including drug-induced, contributions. Stress influences the development of addictions. This study was conducted to determine if variants in stress-related genes are associated with opioid dependence (OD). Patients & methods: One hundred and twenty variants in 26 genes were analyzed in 597 Dutch subjects. Patients included 281 OD in methadone maintenance with or without heroin-assisted treatment and 316 controls. Results: Twelve SNPs in seven genes showed a nominally significant association with OD. Experiment-wise significant associations (p < 0.05) were found for three SNP pairs, through an interaction effect: NPY1R/GAL rs4691910/rs1893679, NPY1R/GAL rs4691910/rs3136541 and GALR1/GAL rs9807208/rs3136541. Conclusion: This study lends more evidence to previous reports of association of stress-related variants with heroin dependence.

Keywords::

• case–control association study
• GAL
• GALR1
• NPY1R
• opioid dependence

Author contributions

MJ Kreek, JM van Ree and W van den Brink originally conceived and designed the study; MJ Kreek oversaw all aspects of the study, as principal investigator; M Randesi oversaw sample preparation, data collection, analysis and interpretation and drafting the manuscript. J Ott performed the statistical analyses. O Levran oversaw array design, SNP selection, data analysis and interpretation. P Blanken ascertained study subjects. All the coauthors contributed to the content of the manuscript, provided critical reviews and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was supported by grants from the Dr Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation (MJK), a special supplement to the National Institutes of Health grant R01-DA012848 (MJK) and a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the Dr Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation (MJK), a special supplement to the National Institutes of Health grant R01-DA012848 (MJK) and a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.