Can an AKT1 Test Explain an Individual’s Reaction to Cannabis?
A genetic association can help explain why responses differ across a group. To explain a particular person’s reaction, an expert still needs to connect the exposure, timing and recorded symptoms. Morgan and colleagues examined how AKT1 variation tracked with short-term symptoms after cannabis use.
How the researchers measured acute response
The study tested 442 young cannabis users after they smoked their own cannabis and at a separate drug-free visit. Researchers analyzed samples of participants’ cannabis for THC and CBD. Variation at AKT1 rs2494732 was associated with acute psychosis-like symptom scores alongside other factors, including cannabis dependence and baseline schizotypal symptoms.
What a case review still needs
These were short-term symptom scores in a naturalistic study. Participants supplied their own cannabis, and exposure was not assigned like a fixed dose in a randomized challenge. A genotype alone supplies neither the amount consumed nor the sequence of symptoms. Product records, timing, contemporaneous observations and other possible exposures remain central to evaluating the episode.
Morgan et al., Translational Psychiatry (2016)
