Alcohol dependence, similar to other psychiatric diseases, manifests through the interaction of multiple genes and signaling pathways. Disrupting key genes within the network may affect a broad range of molecular mechanisms and modify downstream phenotypes. Through a systems-based approach of transcriptome-wide expression from human postmortem PFC, our analysis highlights comprehensive differences in sustained pairwise expression profiles related to an alcohol use disorder. The transcriptional landscape of alcoholic PFC formed a coordinate biological network associated with the lifetime consumption of alcohol. The internal structure of the network intertwined known and unknown targets related to the pathophysiology of alcohol drinking behavior, offering a comprehensive assessment for the widespread pharmacological actions of repeated alcohol exposure in human brain.
