Gene Technology

Abstract

SNPs as Co-morbid Factors for Drug Abuse and Ischemic Heart Disease

Mohammad Al-Haggar

Drug abuse is a major health and social problem that may be associated with morbidity and mortality. It is considered by many societies as an antisocial or even criminal behavior. Susceptibility to addiction is multifactorial with complex genetic basis characterized by phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity. Candidate genes are those concerned with action and metabolism of abused drug or those that encode neurotransmitter systems. Comorbidity means the concomitance or sequential development of two disorders in one cohort. High prevalence of comorbidities does not mean that one condition caused the other, even if one appeared first. Neurocardiac involvement may be in the form of the heart’s effects on the brain as in embolic stroke as a sequel of cardiac disease, the brain’s effects on the heart as in neurogenic heart disease, and neurocardiac syndromes like Friedreich's ataxia. Recently, increasing evidences suggest genetic and epigenetic factors as a cause of comorbidity. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is the most interesting risk factor that could explain the personal variation in disease susceptibility especially the multifactorial comorbid disorders. In this article, we will review the role SNPs as a risk factor for the comorbidity of drug abuse and ischemic heart disease.