Genetic Aspects of Opiate Addiction

By Arthur Falek, Ph.D. What is known about the genetic aspects of opiate addiction? Opiates such as heroin and dilaudid are drugs which have long been known to relieve or depress pain but increased consumption frequently result in uncontrolled drug use and addiction. These properties of opiates led to the discovery that there are specific opiate receptors in the brain and that the central nervous system itself produces substances with opiate-like activities. More recent observations are that the opiates circulate as well in other parts of the body as well as the central nervous system and elicit responses from various nonneuronal tissues including the white cells of the immune system. In our laboratory we studied the effects of opiates on human white cells, lymphocytes, and in particular Tlymphocytes, and have found that opiates result in a reduction in the genetic functions of these cells as a consequence of chromosome damage and deficient DNA repair capacity. What appears to be evident from our studies is that opiates directly effect the individual’s immune system by altering the functions of the body’s T-cell lymphocytes which results in genetic damage at the time of DNA replication.