A Four Marker Digital PCR Toolkit for Detecting Heavy Alcohol Consumption and the Effectiveness of Its Treatment

Robert Philibert; Shelly Miller; Amanda Noel; Kelsey Dawes; Emma Papworth; Donald W Black; Steven R H Beach; Jeffrey D Long; James A Mills; Meeshanthini Dogan

doi:10.17849/insm-48-1-1-1.1

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A Four Marker Digital PCR Toolkit for Detecting Heavy Alcohol Consumption and the Effectiveness of Its Treatment

Journal article

Peer reviewed

A Four Marker Digital PCR Toolkit for Detecting Heavy Alcohol Consumption and the Effectiveness of Its Treatment

Robert Philibert, Shelly Miller, Amanda Noel, Kelsey Dawes, Emma Papworth, Donald W Black, Steven R H Beach, Jeffrey D Long, James A Mills and Meeshanthini Dogan

Journal of insurance medicine (Seattle, Wash.), Vol.48(1), pp.90-102

2019

DOI: 10.17849/insm-48-1-1-1.1

PMID: 31609642

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Abstract

Heavy alcohol consumption (HAC) is a shared concern of the forensic, medical and insurance underwriting communities. Unfortunately, there is a relative lack of clinically employable tools for detecting HAC and monitoring treatment response. Building on the results of 3 genome wide methylation studies, we have previously shown in a small group of samples that methylation sensitive digital PCR assays (MSdPCR) have the potential to accurately classify individuals with respect to HAC in a small set of individuals. We now expand on those earlier findings using data and biomaterials from 143 participants with current HAC and 200 abstinent controls. We show that a set of 4 digital PCR assays that have a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.96 for detecting those with HAC. After a mean of 21 days of inpatient enforced abstinence, methylation status at one of these markers, cg04987734, began to revert to baseline values. Re-examination of methylation data from our smaller 2014 study with respect to this locus demonstrated a similarly significant reversion pattern at cg04987734 in association with treatment enforced abstinence. We conclude that clinically implementable dPCR tools can sensitively detect the presence of HAC and that they show promise for monitoring alcohol treatment results. These dPCR tools could be useful to clinicians and researchers in monitoring those enrolled in substance use disorder treatment, employee wellness programs and insurance underwriting.

Area Under Curve

Humans

Middle Aged

Linear Models

Male

Treatment Outcome

Alcohol Drinking - therapy

DNA Methylation - genetics

Biomarkers - blood

Genetic Loci

Alcohol Drinking - genetics

Case-Control Studies

Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods

Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology

Adult

Female

Iowa - epidemiology

ROC Curve

Details

Title: Subtitle: A Four Marker Digital PCR Toolkit for Detecting Heavy Alcohol Consumption and the Effectiveness of Its Treatment
Creators: Robert Philibert - Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Shelly Miller - Behavioral Diagnostics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Amanda Noel - Behavioral Diagnostics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Kelsey Dawes - Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Emma Papworth - Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Donald W Black - Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Steven R H Beach - Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA USA
Jeffrey D Long - Department of Biostatistics, University of Iowa
James A Mills - Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Meeshanthini Dogan - Behavioral Diagnostics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of insurance medicine (Seattle, Wash.), Vol.48(1), pp.90-102
Publisher: United States
DOI: 10.17849/insm-48-1-1-1.1
PMID: 31609642
ISSN: 0743-6661
Language: English
Date published: 2019
Academic Unit: Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Psychiatry; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Biostatistics
Record Identifier: 9984070455302771

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