"Hacking The Immune System To Fight Cocaine Addiction" - Bob McDonald
Anyone who's ever been a habitual user of a drug like cocaine can tell you that once you start, it can be a slippery slope to addiction. A new study out in Nature Communications describes how scientists, led by Drew Kiraly, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, investigated how cocaine and the immune system conspire together to make the drug more addictive. They exposed mice to long-term cocaine and looked to see if cytokines, which are proteins in our immune system, went up or down in correlation with cocaine addiction. They narrowed it down to one protein, which Dr. Kiraly calls, "G-CSF," otherwise known as granulocyte-colony stimulating factor. "It seems like there may be a bit of a vicious cycle to it where we're taking this drug increases this protein, which increases the rewarding value of the drug," said Dr. Kiraly. The hope is that eventually they can target this protein with an antibody in people to dial back the cravings. He's currently working to see what effect this protein, G-CSF, might have opiate use in animals.
- Drew Kiraly, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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