Abstract
As of 2018, 14.4 million adults ages 18 and older in the U.S had alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, only about 8% of adults who had AUD in the past year received treatment. Surveys have also shown racial disparities regarding AUD treatments. Thus, it is imperative to identify racial disparities in AUD patients, as it may indicate a specific underlying pathophysiology in an AUD subpopulation. To identify racial disparity in AUD, we enrolled 64 cohorts, including 26 AUD participants and 38 healthy controls, from Northwest Louisiana using community-based enrollment. Then, we used psychometric scales to assess alcohol drinking patterns and measured blood metabolites change using LC-MS/MS. Alcohol-related scales from the questionnaires did not differ between the Caucasian AUD participants and African-American AUD participants. From blood metabolomics analyses, we identified that 6 amino acids were significantly different by AUD status and or race. Interestingly, Caucasian AUD participants had a higher glutamate metabolism mediated by glutamine synthetase (GS). The correlation between blood glutamate/glutamine ratio and GS activity was only significant in the Caucasian AUD group whereas no changes were observed in African-American AUD group or controls. Taken together, our findings from this sample population demonstrate that blood GS is a potential biomarker associated with Caucasian AUD, which is an important step towards the application of a new pharmacological treatment for AUD.
Highlights
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) contributes significantly to the global burden of disease measured by Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) (139 million disability-adjusted life-years) [1]
Two-way ANOVA identifies that AUD participants showed significantly increased PHQ-9 (F(1,60) = 15.22, p = 0.002) and GAD-7 (F(1,60) = 31.61, p < 0.001) scores compared to control participants (Fig. 1G, H). These findings implicate that chronic alcohol use is increasingly correlated to the intensity of depression and anxiety, of RESULTS Clinical characteristics of Caucasian AUD and AfricanAmerican AUD participants For this racial disparity study, a total of 64 participants were enrolled by community-based recruitment
We found that the serum glutamine synthetase (GS) activity was significantly increased in the Caucasian AUD participants compared to their respective race controls and African-American AUD participants
Summary
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) contributes significantly to the global burden of disease measured by Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) (139 million disability-adjusted life-years) [1]. This condition is difficult to treat due to the heterogeneity of AUD, likely involving multiple mechanisms. While a critical step in the effective study and treatment of AUD is the identification of disease subgroups, clear parameters for classification are elusive. Research on disease subgroups has highlighted the importance of discerning racial disparities, of which there are many in AUD. Many studies have noted racial disparities in factors contributing to AUD as well as its treatment. African-Americans, compared to other races, have a higher likelihood of developing AUD [2]. This study suggested that racial differences may play a role in the development of problem drinking, and African-Americans are more likely to develop AUD than Caucasians even when factors like social/economic hardships are controlled for [3]. It is important to incorporate a diverse population sample that has African-American AUD individuals
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