Gene therapy may help in controlling addiction and depression

A new study has revealed that regulation of a single, specific gene in a brain region can help control drug addiction and depression.

The study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai focused on epigenetics, the study of changes in the action of human genes caused, not by changes in DNA code we inherit from our parents, but instead by molecules that regulate when, where and to what degree our genetic material is activated.

Using mouse models of human depression, stress and addiction, the current research team introduced synthetic- transcription factors into a brain region called the nucleus accumbens at a single gene called FosB, which has been linked by past studies to both addiction and depression.

They found that changes to this single gene brought on by the transcription factors made the study mice more resilient to stress and less likely to become addicted to cocaine.

The study was published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience.