Stress genes out of kilter

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen have investigated genetic variations of the corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) system, the biological stress axis, in schizophrenia patients.

People suffering from chronic stress are more likely to develop alcoholism © Altmann/pixelio.de

This system, which consists of various signalling molecules and the receptor structures that interact with them on the cell surface, plays a crucial role in the individual stress response.

Hannelore Ehrenreich and her team have demonstrated for the first time an interaction between genetic variants within the CRF system, which show a high predictive value for the risk of comorbid alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a serious and incurable disease that affects up to 20 per cent of the adult population in industrialised countries. The term alcoholism refers to both the serious abuse of alcohol and dependence on it.

''The treatment of alcoholism is hampered by an extremely high relapse rate following physical detoxification and even many months of abstinence,'' explains Hannelore Ehrenreich, head of the division of clinical neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine.

Rates of alcoholism well in excess of 30 per cent arise in people who suffer from chronic diseases, for example serious skin diseases, rheumatism, schizophrenia and depression. ''It is not difficult to imagine how, in addition to an already debilitating underlying illness, alcoholism has disastrous effects on the disease progression and the patient's individual situation,'' says the physician.