title: Serotonin transporter gene variants in alcohol-dependent subjects with dissocial personality disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We tested the hypothesis that a functional biallelic repetitive element in the 5' regulatory region of the human serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) confers susceptibility to serotonin-related personality traits underlying alcohol dependence with dissocial behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  The association study was focused on 64 alcohol-dependent subjects with a dissocial personality disorder (according to ICD-10) who were derived from 315 German alcohol-dependent subjects. The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) was applied to assess personality dimensions in 101 alcohol-dependent men, including 39 dissocial alcoholics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our association analyses revealed a trend towards a higher frequency of the short (S) allele of the SLC6A4 polymorphism in dissocial alcoholics compared to 216 German controls (chi 2 = 2.81, df = 1, p = 0.094). Dissocial alcoholics carrying the S/S genotype exhibited significant lower scores of harm avoidance compared to those lacking it (U-test, p = 0.015). Significantly higher novelty seeking scores were obtained in dissocial alcoholics carrying the S allele relative to those lacking it (U-test, p = 0.021).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our tentative association findings in dissocial alcoholics suggest that the S allele of the 5' regulatory SLC6A4 polymorphism confers susceptibility to a temperamental profile of high novelty seeking and low harm avoidance that has been postulated to underlie dissocial (type-2) alcoholism according to Cloninger's neurogenetic theory of personality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Benjamin Franklin, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sander
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dufeu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoehe
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lesch
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rommelspacher
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D000483:Alleles; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D012701:Serotonin; D004247:DNA