CHAPEL HILL, NC - When all else fails, some patients trying to overcome alcoholism, severe depression or anxiety, and even cluster headaches, turn to psychedelic drugs, which clinical research has shown can help treat individuals with these conditions, sometimes with dramatically positive results. But sometimes, as with any therapy, the psychedelic treatment does not work. It just takes a patient on a long strange trip.
Now, UNC School of Medicine researchers led by Bryan Roth, MD, PhD, the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, report that one reason for treatment disparity could be common genetic variations in one serotonin receptor.
Published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, the lab research in cells shows that seven variants uniquely and differentially impact the receptor's response to four psychedelic drugs - psilocin, LSD, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and mescaline.
"Based on our study, we expect that patients with different genetic variations will react differently to psychedelic-assisted treatments," said Roth, who leads the NIH Psychotropic Drug Screening Program. "We think physicians should consider the genetics of a patient's serotonin receptors to identify which psychedelic compound is likely to be the most effective treatment in future clinical trials."
