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A neuromarker for drug and food craving distinguishes drug users from non-users

Nature Neuroscience volume 26, pages 316–325 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Craving is a core feature of substance use disorders. It is a strong predictor of substance use and relapse and is linked to overeating, gambling, and other maladaptive behaviors. Craving is measured via self-report, which is limited by introspective access and sociocultural contexts. Neurobiological markers of craving are both needed and lacking, and it remains unclear whether craving for drugs and food involve similar mechanisms. Across three functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (n = 99), we used machine learning to identify a cross-validated neuromarker that predicts self-reported intensity of cue-induced drug and food craving (P < 0.0002). This pattern, which we term the Neurobiological Craving Signature (NCS), includes ventromedial prefrontal and cingulate cortices, ventral striatum, temporal/parietal association areas, mediodorsal thalamus and cerebellum. Importantly, NCS responses to drug versus food cues discriminate drug users versus non-users with 82% accuracy. The NCS is also modulated by a self-regulation strategy. Transfer between separate neuromarkers for drug and food craving suggests shared neurobiological mechanisms. Future studies can assess the discriminant and convergent validity of the NCS and test whether it responds to clinical interventions and predicts long-term clinical outcomes.

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Fig. 1: Study design and analytic approach.
Fig. 2: Thresholded display of the NCS.
Fig. 3: Predictive performance of the NCS.
Fig. 4: Classification of drug users versus non-users based on NCS responses to drugs and food.
Fig. 5: Cross-prediction of drug craving and food craving based on drug-based and food-based brain patterns.
Fig. 6: The NCS partially mediates the effects of intrinsic visual craving features on craving ratings.

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Data availability

Data, meta-data and NCS weight maps are available for non-commercial aims at https://github.com/canlab/Neuroimaging_Pattern_Masks/tree/master/Multivariate_signature_patterns/2022_Koban_NCS_Craving and at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21174256.

Code availability

MATLAB code for analyses is available at https://github.com/canlab. Custom code to train and apply the NCS is available at https://github.com/canlab/Neuroimaging_Pattern_Masks/tree/master/Multivariate_signature_patterns/2022_Koban_NCS_Craving.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA043690 to H.K.) and a Campus France Marie Sklodowska Curie co-fund fellowship (PRESTIGE-2018-2-0023 to L.K). Collection of the datasets included herein was funded by R01DA022541 (principal investigator (PI): K. Ochsner), P50AA012870 (PI: J. Krystal) and P20DA027844 (PI: M. Potenza). We thank everyone who supported the collection of these data. We also thank N. Vafaie for help with data management and transfer.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Tor D. Wager, Hedy Kober.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Inserm, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France

    Leonie Koban

  2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Tor D. Wager

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Hedy Kober

  4. Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL), CNRS, INSERM, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France

    Leonie Koban

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Contributions

H.K. designed the experiments and collected the data. L.K. analyzed the data, created the figures and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. H.K. and T.W. conceived the project, obtained funding and supervised the project. All authors contributed to the writing and editing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Leonie Koban, Tor D. Wager or Hedy Kober.

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Koban, L., Wager, T.D. & Kober, H. A neuromarker for drug and food craving distinguishes drug users from non-users. Nat Neurosci 26, 316–325 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01228-w

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