Dr Consuelo Guerri is Boss of Cellular Pathology. Centre of Investigation Prince Felipe. Valencia
Last 12 May 2016 Dr Consuelo Guerri presented the latest advances on drug dependency research of a pioneer group she directs. Her works have brought light to the mechanism through which alcohol produces inflammatory compounds which are responsible for provoking neuro-inflammation and brain damage. Her research group was the first to prove that alcohol administration produces the activation of specific receptors (TLR4 among others), through which the formation of cytokines is induced.
She explained the role of the immune system in alcohol consumption, the behavioural facts and the process of addiction. She highlighted the new hypotheses using the chymosin and cytokine levels as vulnerability and rehabilitation biomarkers in addiction. In her studies, she has observed that the levels of such substances vary and change their expression pattern depending on the stage of consumption, being different during alcohol consumption, abstinence (different in the short and long run) and occasional consumption after abstinence (priming). She stated that variations in these inflammatory compounds has also been observed after drug abuse, which opens up doors to develop new therapies and treatments against addiction through the Immune System. Additionally, cytokine release is observed in stress processes and psychiatric disorders such as depression. Hence, this opens a wide field of study on the role of inflammatory compounds in brain deterioration observed in dual pathology.
