Gene editing could reverse anxiety and alcohol-use disorder

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Exposure to alcohol during adolescence can leave a person vulnerable to a lifetime of psychiatric challenges, such as anxiety problems and alcohol-use disorder. Epigenetic modifications arise after adolescent alcohol use, which block the expression of proteins associated with higher-order cognitive and emotional processes during adulthood. CRISPR gene editing can reverse the disruptive epigenetic modification, and alleviate anxiety and alcoholism.

During that uncomfortable period between puberty and adulthood, the brain undergoes carefully orchestrated changes in gene expression and epigenetic modification. Alcohol, unfortunately, interferes with this biological architecture. Consequently, mistakes are made, and gene expression and modification do not go as planned, leaving the person vulnerable to a lifetime of psychiatric challenges, such as anxiety and alcoholism.