Genetic polymorphism of the CCK gene in patients with alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
BACKGROUND
Cholecystokinin (CCK) is considered to play an important role in the central nervous system via its interaction with other neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid, substance P, and enkephalins. We investigated the relationship between the C to T substitution in the Sp1 binding cis-element of the CCK gene promoter region (at position -45 numbered from initiation codon) and alcohol withdrawal symptoms.


METHODS
We examined 214 Japanese men with alcoholism (93 with delirium tremens, 49 with hallucination, 38 with seizure, and 93 with none of these symptoms) and 98 age-matched Japanese male controls by using a polymerase chain reaction-based single strand conformational polymorphism analysis.


RESULTS
Patients who displayed hallucination were significantly more likely to possess the C allele than control subjects (chi2 = 8.17, p = 0.017, Bonferroni correction: p = 0.064). In addition, we investigated the influence of CCK gene polymorphism on alcohol consumption among the control subjects but found no significant relationship.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggested that the C allele at -45 locus of the CCK gene was higher in patients with hallucination than the control group at a rate that was not quite significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing.
Okubo
T
T
Department of Environmental Ecosystem, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraka, Japan.
Harada
S
S
Higuchi
S
S
Matsushita
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial; D002766:Cholecystokinin / Q000235:genetics*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000235:genetics*
D000431:Ethanol; D002766:Cholecystokinin; C096127:ALDH2 protein, human; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial