RNA Expression Change in Heroin Abuser

Chronic illicit drug abuse and addiction are major public health concerns. Heroin remains the most commonly illicit drug. Despite a long history of research, the physiological effects of heroin and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we examined the peripheral blood from 810 heroin-dependent patients (HDPs) versus 500 healthy controls (HCs) according to the inclusion criteria. The blood biochemical parameters including albumin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and glucose were compared among the participants. Compared with the control group, significant decreases of albumin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and glucose levels were identified in HDPs (P < 0.001) versus HCs coupled with an insignificant decrease in BMI. Meanwhile, whole transcriptome-sequencing analyses were performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 16 long-term HDPs and 25 age- and gender- matched HCs. The transcriptome analysis showed that the NFκB/TNFα signaling pathway and hematopoiesis related genes were inhibited in PBMC of HDPs. Furthermore, we compared of the transcriptome data of HDPs to those of spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 and posttraumatic stress disorder patients, identified neurodegenerative diseases related genes were commonly up-regulated in coupled with biological processes “vesicle transport”, “mitochondria” and “splicing”. Genes in the categories of “protein ubiquitination” were down-regulated indicating potential biochemical alterations shared by all three comparative to their controls. In summary, this is a leading study performing a series of through investigations in large sample numbers and using delicate approaches. Results from this study would benefit the study of drug addiction overall and link long-term heroin abuse to neurodegenerative diseases.