Study Shows Gene Editing May Hold Promise for Reversing Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking

Gene editing could one day help reverse anxiety and excessive drinking caused by adolescent exposure to alcohol, according to a new study in rats supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). A team of investigators led by NIAAA grantee Subhash C. Pandey, Ph.D., the Joseph A. Flaherty-endowed professor of psychiatry and director of the Alcohol Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago, published a report of the findings in the May 2022 issue of Science Advances.

The new research is the latest chapter in ongoing investigations by Dr. Pandey’s lab of how binge drinking in adolescence creates epigenetic changes in the brain that can lead to increased anxiety and alcohol consumption in adulthood. Epigenetic changes refer to DNA modifications that affect expression of a gene without altering the gene’s DNA sequence.