AUSTRALIAN and international scientists may have found a cure for heroin and morphine addictions.

The discovery could have wide-reaching implications leading to better pain relief without the risk of addiction to prescription drugs, while also helping heroin users kick the habit.

Dr Mark Hutchinson from the University of Adelaide said a team of researchers had shown for the first time that blocking an immune receptor, called TLR4, stopped opioid cravings.

“Both the central nervous system and the immune system play important roles in creating addiction, but our studies have shown we only need to block the immune response in the brain to prevent cravings for opioid drugs,” Dr Hutchinson said.

The scientists, including a team from the University of Colorado Boulder, used an existing drug to target and block the TLR4 receptor. The National Institutes on Drug Abuse in the United States is further developing the drug, which has been proven to work in the laboratory, to test in clinical trials. As a result, clinical trials on patients could be underway in just two to three years time, Dr Hutchinson said.

If the clinical trials were successful, opioid drugs used to treat acute pain could potentially be co-formulated with the additional drugs to limit the chance of addiction. This approach could also treat patients with heroin or other opioid addictions who are admitted to hospital and require pain relief.

These patients generally needed larger doses of drugs like morphine to treat pain because their bodies have developed a higher tolerance. However, Dr Hutchinson said co-formulated drugs would mean these patients could be given lower doses.

“It might make it much easier to treat those already addicted or tolerant populations,” Dr Hutchinson said.

President of the Australian College of the Anaesthetists Dr Lindy Roberts said although opioids were important for the treatment of pain they could have adverse effects. She said treatments that could potentially separate the pain relief aspects of drugs from adverse effects were welcomed.

The findings were published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience

Source: www.The Australian.com 15.08.12