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Center for Translational Neuroscience Distinguished Speaker Series Symposium on Drug Abuse Rayford Auditorium, Biomed II Bldg., 12 noon Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Clinical Translational Research Anti-addiction Medications Thomas Kosten MD Waggoner Chair & Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology & Neuroscience Baylor College of Medicine Clinical Translational Research is developing new pharmacogenetic, immunotherapy and genetic engineering tools for improving anti-addiction medications. Pharmacogenetics has become useful for treatment of alcoholism and cocaine. Alcoholism pharmacotherapy with Naltrexone has been much improved based on selecting patients who have a functional polymorphism in the OPRM1 gene that codes for the mu opiate receptor. Cocaine pharmacotherapy with Disulfiram has been improved based on selecting patients who have a regulatory polymorphism in the DBH gene that codes for the enzyme dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH). Immunotherapies for addictions have included developments in both vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. UAMS researcher Michael Owens has led the field in monoclonals for various addictions. Vaccines have been developed for cocaine, nicotine, opiates and methamphetamine, and this talk will focus on the human studies with a cocaine vaccine. The cocaine vaccine has most recently been improved through genetic engineering of the enzyme cholinesterase that metabolizes cocaine. The activity of cholinesterase has been increased 50,000 fold, and this new enzyme’s DNA transfected into human white blood cells for sustained release and activity.