A new study has identified a protein that may act as the trigger controlling the addictive pull in the brain. The hope is that this will result in new addiction therapies.
The results from the study strongly suggest that methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) interacts with microRNA to control a person’s drive to use cocaine.
"The study shows that MeCP2 blunts the amount by which microRNA 212 is increased in response to cocaine," said Paul Kenny, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Therapeutics at The Scripps Research Institute in Florida.
"We have previously shown that mR-212 is very protective against cocaine addiction. Therefore, the conclusion is that MeCP2 may regulate vulnerability to addiction in some people through its inhibitory influence on mR-212. Without this influence. The expression of mR-212 would be far greater in response to cocaine use, and the risk of addiction would likely be lower."
One of the primary goals of drug abuse research is to understand why certain people turn from casual to addictive drug use.
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