Increased white blood cell in young adults with family histories of alcohol and other substance use disorders

• Published in: Addiction biology Vol. 29; no. 11; p. e70000
• Main Authors: Mithaiwala, Mustafa N., Phillips, Nikki S., Nguyen, Dylan H., Beehler, Melanie S., Ballard, Harrison S., Vincent, Andrea S., Lovallo, William R., Kochunov, Peter, Hong, L. Elliot, O'Connor, Jason C., Cole, Steve, Acheson, Ashley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken John Wiley and Sons Inc 01-11-2024
• Subjects: Original
• ISSN: 1355-6215; 1369-1600; 1369-1600
• DOI: 10.1111/adb.70000

Individuals with a family history of alcohol or other substance use disorders (FH+) are at increased risk for developing alcohol and other substance use disorders (AUD/SUD) compared to individuals with no such family histories (FH−). FH+ young adults have blunted stress reactivity, lower cognitive performance and altered frontal white matter microstructure compared to FH− controls. We hypothesized that family history of AUD/SUD disrupts neuroendocrine regulation of the immune system in FH+ individuals, resulting in altered blood immune cell composition, inflammation and neurocognitive alterations that, ultimately, increases risk for AUD/SUD and associated psychopathology. We examined white blood cell (WBC) parameters derived from complete blood counts in FH+ ( n  = 37) and FH− ( n  = 77) young adults without AUD/SUD to test if immune system dysregulation is present in FH+ individuals. The total WBC count, number of neutrophils and number of monocytes and associated systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI) were significantly increased in the FH+ group. Further, WBC, neutrophil, monocyte counts and SIRI values were all positively correlated with FH density (number of biological parents and grandparents with AUD/SUD). These novel data are the first to identify an association between family history of AUD/SUD and increased circulating leukocytes, which is likely indicative of immune dysregulation in FH+ young adults prior to onset of AUD/SUD. Additional studies are warranted to characterize the functional relevance of the observed immune cell composition in FH+ individuals, but the notion that inexpensive and widely available blood tests may help identify addiction risk could be transformative.