The following is a summary of “Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of cannabis use disorder in a veteran cohort enriched for posttraumatic stress disorder,” published in the March 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Garrett et al.
Cannabis use has been on the rise since the last decade. Along with the general population, even military veterans have also been associated with the increase in Cannabis Use disorder (CUD).
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate CUD interaction with current PTSD status and examine the potential effects of DNA methylation (DNAm) on CUD and psychiatric diagnosis.
They used study protocols approved by ethics committees and investigated 2,310 non-Hispanic participants (1,109 black and 1,201 White) to explore the correlation between lifetime CUD and epigenetic markers, controlling for smoking effects.
The result showed 4 CpGs were associated with lifetime CUD, even after adjusting for smoking (AHRR cg05575921, LINC00299 cg23079012, VWA7cg22112841, and FAM70A cg08760398). CUD and PTSD together displayed reduced DNAm levels at cg05575921 and cg23079012 when compared to other groups.
Investigators concluded that AHRR cg05575921 is significant in linking CUD with psychiatric conditions and notable mood disorders amidst interaction with PTSD and altered DNAm.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178124000428
