Cannabinoids abuse: evaluation of genetic vulnerability

Cannabinoids abuse: evaluation of genetic vulnerability Serena Galati1, Maria Carla Gerra1, Matteo Manfredini1 and Claudia Donnini1 1Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Italy The vulnerability to develop drug addiction is influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The study was aimed to identify, in the population of patients addicted to cannabis, the most prevalent among the drugs in adolescents and young adults, possible genetic factors that may constitute biological correlates of personality traits at risk for addictive disorders. The polymorphisms of the genes chosen for the study are those involved, according to the literature, in determining the tone of the endogenous cannabinoid and dopamine which presents the complex pathway of endocannabinoids interactions: CNR1: (ATT)n, 1359G>A, rs2023239, rs806380; FAAH: C385A; ANKK1: Taq1 A; DRD2: C957T; DRD4: 7R; COMT Val108/158Met;DAT1/SLC6A3: 9R. Although preliminary and until now obtained in a small sample of subjects (50 controls and 30 cannabinoid dependent subjects), the results obtained allow us to detect, in the population of drug users, a statistically significant difference, compared to the population of abstinent for the A1 allele of the gene SNP ANKK1 TaqIA that is significantly increased in the population of drug addicts. The TaqIA is located in exon 8 of the gene ANKK1 on which it depends, for reasons not yet clarified, the expression of DRD2, encoding the dopamine receptor. Regarding the functional polymorphism, the C957T SNP in exon 7 of the DRD2 gene, is prevalent in its allelic form T in the population of cannabis-dependent. Other alleles in other genes are prevalent in the target population of cannabis abusers while not showing significant differences. The enlargement of the analysis to a greater number of abstinent drug addicts will allow us to better define the prognostic implications of risk polymorphisms test.