In 2022, fentanyl overdose was the leading cause of death for U.S. adults aged 18 to 45, according to Families Against Fentanyl (2023).
“This alarming statistic highlights the urgent need to understand why some people are more susceptible to fentanyl addiction,” said Price E. Dickson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and lead investigator of this five-year study. “Identifying how certain genes influence the brain’s response to fentanyl will pave the way for the development of effective treatments, thus addressing a critical public health need.”
According to the incentive sensitization theory of addiction, repeated drug use can make the brain’s reward system overly sensitive to drug-related cues, leading to a powerful craving for the drug. While both fentanyl addiction and incentive sensitization are known to be highly inheritable in humans and mice, the specific genetic mechanisms linking incentive sensitization to fentanyl addiction have remained elusive.
Dickson and his team will use a panel of genetically diverse mice in concert with advanced neurogenomics and neuroscience approaches to discover the genes and brain mechanisms that underlie vulnerability and resistance to fentanyl addiction. Co-investigators Brandon J. Henderson, Ph.D., and Alejandro Q. Nato Jr. Ph.D., both associate professors of biomedical sciences at Marshall University, will bring expertise in neuroscience, bioinformatics and statistical genetics.
Ultimately, this pioneering research may result in the development of novel, more effective addiction treatments and, in so doing, address a critical need in public health.
An R01 research grant is a prestigious funding mechanism through the National Institutes of Health and its affiliated institutes and centers that supports health-related research projects. Securing this highly competitive grant signifies recognition of the project’s scientific merit and its potential impact on advancing medical knowledge and improving public health.