Researchers from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina have discovered that the protein beta-catenin has significantly higher levels in the brains of chronic alcoholics than in those persons who do not have a medical history of alcoholism. Beta-catenin affects cell signaling and development. A pilot study revealed the increased levels of beta-catenin in alcoholics, and led to further study of the protein.

Qiang Gu, Ph.D., senior author of a report to be released in the June issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, says that identification of beta-catenin's link to alcoholism may lead to the development of treatments to inhibit the protein's molecular effects.

The research Gu and his colleagues performed centered on how proteins work within and affect the brain; proteins responding to chronic alcohol consumption seem to lead to differences in behavioral, psychological and physical aspects. If the changes occur early, it might be an indication of adaptation to the alcohol intake.

The research involved a state of the art technique called antibody microarray analyses. Through this technique, various proteins were measured in tissue samples from a group of male chronic alcoholics and a second group of males without a history of alcohol abuse. The tissue samples were taken from the superior frontal cortex.

More research on how and when beta-catenin levels increase needs to be done before a definitive treatment can be pursued. Another potential avenue of research developed by Gu and colleague's research is the high level of the protein Myc in the alcoholic subjects' tissues. Myc in high levels sometimes triggers cell changes leading to cancer. High consumption of alcohol has long had a suspected link to certain cancers. Gu suggests that further studies of Myc may establish the actual mechanism of the cancer link.