OSU Team Finds Possible Addiction Gene

From the OSU Research News bulletin:

Scientists have learned how a genetic variation long suspected in making some people susceptible to alcoholism and narcotic drug addiction actually does so.

In laboratory studies, this variation greatly reduced the amount of protein that the DNA in a cell produced. It's the difference in protein expression that may make receptors on certain brain cells much more vulnerable to the effects of addictive drugs, said Wolfgang Sadee, the study's lead author, professor and chair of pharmacology and director of the pharmacogenomics program at Ohio State University. These particular receptors, called mu opioid receptors, serve as a molecular docking station for narcotic drugs and alcohol.

This type of discovery has the potential to be translated directly into therapeutic applications, which in turn have the potential to be widely effective. If that turns out to be the case, this could turn out to have been a major discovery.

It would be interesting to know whether OSU has any intellectual property/technology transfer rights on the gene. Until recently, universities always made discoveries, but the private sector made all the profit (from the applications). So recently some universities have decided to become a little more business savvy about their work. I wonder if OSU is one such case.