Mechanistic Effects of Human Variants Associated with Addiction

Dear colleagues,

Opioid medications are useful for treating acute pain; however, over the past two decades their use has been liberalized and their addictive potential underestimated, which has resulted in approximately 116 million people with opioid-prescription dependency. Opioid addiction comes in many forms, and it is a complex disease resulting from variants in multiple genes with relatively small effects, along with environmental and developmental factors. Thus, a genetic variant found in a given subset of an addicted population may not be found in an addicted population of a different background.

This Special Issue targets all aspects of opioid addiction, including factors as age, gender, race, and ethnicity, with a special emphasis on the genetic component contributing to addiction. Works reporting new variants associated with elevated opioid addiction risk are welcome. Investigations revealing mechanistical effects and the functional impact of these addiction-linked variants are particularly encouraged. Since opioid addiction is a complex disease, we are looking to receive papers addressing the impact of variants on the networks of interactions involving multiple genes.

Prof. Dr. Emil Alexov
Guest Editor

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