Addiction Research and Therapy

Biography

Biography: Dalal Akoury

Abstract

Learning objectives 1. Emphasize a wholistic approach to understanding the Biologic stress and addiction networks and sub-networks including the Limbic, HPA, HPT, HPG, Serotonergic and Dopaminergic system. 2. Focus on the non-linear interactions between the various components and pathways of stress and addiction to determine the major players in the pathophysiology of cancer and suggested targets of therapy. 3. A “paradigm shift” of molecular biology from a reductionist approach to a more wholistic approach will be highlighted. 4. We will allude to the complex genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics involved in the neuroendocrine system creating an exceptional self-healing brain circuitry including sub-networks. 5. We will discuss the effect of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is deregulation in addiction and cancer. Reflecting on the effect of these HPA imbalances on all the Limbic and HPT circuits and emphasizing the restoration of these circuits as a first step in addiction recovery and cancer treatment. Stress, pain, addiction and the cancer cycle The links between stress, addiction and cancer are multifaceted, spanning from the low incidence of cancer in relaxed happy individuals to altered cancer cell metabolism resulting from unchecked stresses and addictive behaviors. The effect of any form of addictive behavior on cancer development is too obvious to be ignored anymore. Cancer prevention and cure cannot be attained unless stress, addiction, and pain are properly addressed. Cancer is a complex collection of distinct stress induced epigenetic dis-eases united by common hallmarks. In the quest to survive, every living organism is equipped with the armor to withstand the impacts of stress. Every person is equipped to naturally deal with enormous amounts of stress, but when stress exceeds the allostatic body capability to handle it, sizeable imbalances and discomfort result. Contemporary lifestyle is exceptionally infamous for creating continuous stress. This demanding stressful lifestyle creates an environment that cultivates dis-eases progressing from indigestion to insomnia to depression pain, addiction and ultimately cancer. Besides the Physiologic qualitative approach to coping with stress, the nervous system is almost exclusively recognized for the task to maintain homeostasis. The nervous system is a complex networking structure where chemical, electric and energetic reactions occur between billions of individual neurons facilitating large number of behaviors. Stress and Emotion are complex phenomena that play significant roles in the quality of human life and can predispose individuals to a variety of disorders including pain, addiction, and cancer. Many drugs that affect the mind—ranging from sugar, food, addictive street drugs to therapeutic agents—do so by acting on specific neural circuits concerned with emotional states and feelings. The complex System Biology: Limbic, HPA, HPT, HPG, Serotonergic and Dopaminergic system conduct the Symphony of life Survivorship vs environment. The hallmarks of cancer comprise biological capabilities acquired during the multistep development of human tumors. These hallmarks constitute an organizing principle for rationalizing the complexities of neoplastic disease. They include sustaining proliferative signaling, evading growth suppressors, resisting cell death, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, and activating invasion and metastasis. Underlying these hallmarks is genomic instability, which is generated by an epigenetic chaos in most cases stemming from stresses and addictive behaviors. This epigenetic turmoil created by allostatic imbalances; from stress, pain and addictive destructive behaviors generate a cancer prone genetic diversity that accelerates the acquisition and activation of inflammatory cascades that fuel cancer genesis. In addition to cancer epigenetics, cancers exhibit another dimension of complexity: they contain a repertoire of recruited, seemingly normal cells that contribute to the acquisition of trademark traits by creating the “tumor microenvironment.” Recognition of the widespread applicability of these concepts will increasingly affect the development of new means to treat human cancer. This presentation describes a conceptual framework of how addictions contribute to the hallmarks of cancer and how it can be exploited through stress reduction and addictive behaviors reprogramming to restore allostatic balance and energy metabolism evading immune destruction and subsequently selectively kill cancer cells. Finally, we discuss the path ahead to therapeutic discovery and provide theoretical considerations for combining right-angled cancer therapies by addressing stresses and addictive behaviors.