Alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase polymorphisms in men with type I and Type II alcoholism.
OBJECTIVE
The authors examined the genetic polymorphisms of alcohol dehydrogenase 2 and 3 (ADH2 and ADH3) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) in patients diagnosed as having Cloninger's type I or type II alcoholism.


METHODS
Seventy-two alcoholic men and 38 nonalcoholic, healthy men were tested for the distribution of genotypes and alleles of ADH2, ADH3, and ALDH2. Forty-eight of the alcoholic men had type I alcoholism, and 24 had type II alcoholism.


RESULTS
The frequencies of ADH2*1 and ADH3*2 alleles were significantly higher in men with type II alcoholism than in men with type I alcoholism and healthy men. The frequency of the ALDH2*1 allele was significantly higher in men with alcohol dependence than in healthy men.


CONCLUSIONS
The genetic characteristics of alcohol dehydrogenases in men with type I alcoholism were similar to those of healthy men, and the genetic characteristics of aldehyde dehydrogenase in men with type I alcoholism were similar to those of men with type II alcoholism. These findings suggest that the genetic characteristics of alcohol metabolism in type I alcoholism fall between nonalcoholism and type II alcoholism.
Chai
Young-Gyu
YG
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hanyang University College of Sciences, Ansan, Korea.
Oh
Dong-Yul
DY
Chung
Eun Kee
EK
Kim
Gil Sook
GS
Kim
Leen
L
Lee
Yu-Sang
YS
Choi
Ihn-Geun
IG
D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000201:enzymology / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012737:Sex Factors
D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase