Chunk #46 — 4. ACHIEVING A SYSTEMS-BASED APPROACH TO STUDYING AD — 4.4 Interpreting Systems-based Analysis of AD: The Need for Alcohol-focused Ontologies
Taken together, the different –omics’ illustrate the complexity of the genetic and environmental mechanisms involved in the liability to AD. Genomic studies highlight quantitative trait loci that confer risk or protect against AD. Transcriptome studies demonstrate that alcohol changes the expression level of genes in several brain regions (Flatscher-Bader et al., 2006; Mulligan et al., 2006), such as the nucleus accumbens (Bell et al., 2009; Flatscher-Bader et al., 2010; Obara et al., 2009), and the extended amygdala (McBride et al., 2010) to name a few. Protein expression studies of alcohol use/dependence also indicate protein-level changes that may account for individual differences in drinking behaviors (McBride et al., 2009). Gene-environment studies highlight the strong role of proximal and distal environmental factors that might correlate with genetic factors and/or moderate their effects (Enoch, 2006). Moving forward, the largest obstacles to designing systematic approaches to AD and other complex diseases appear to be data integration, analysis, and interpretation. Integrating genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and most eventually environmental effects into a format that will be applicable to AD requires extensive mining of bioinformatic databases with
