A Single Medical Marker for Diagnosis of Methamphetamine Addiction - DNA Methylation of SHATI/NAT8L Promoter Sites from Patient Blood.

Background: Methamphetamine (METH) is one of the most widely distributed psychostimulants worldwide. Despite active counter measures taken by different countries, neither overall usage of METH nor the frequency of repeat users has reduced over the past decade. METH induces abuse and dependence as it acts on the central nervous system and temporarily stimulates the brain.

Associations between the orexin (hypocretin) receptor 2 gene polymorphism Val308Ile and nicotine dependence in genome-wide and subsequent association studies.

Background: Many genetic and environmental factors are involved in the etiology of nicotine dependence. Although several candidate gene variations have been reported by candidate gene studies or genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to be associated with smoking behavior and the vulnerability to nicotine dependence, such studies have been mostly conducted with subjects with European ancestry. However, genetic factors have rarely been investigated for the Japanese population as GWASs.