The association between the DRD2 TaqI A polymorphism and smoking cessation in response to acupuncture in Koreans.
OBJECTIVE
The response to acupuncture is presumed to differ with the individual; this variation might be due to genetic differences. Therefore, we examined whether the DRD2 TaqI A polymorphism is associated with the response to acupuncture in the treatment of smoking cessation in a Korean population.


METHODS
A total of 231 healthy Korean male smokers participated in this study.


METHODS
The subjects underwent three manual auricular acupuncture treatments in one week.


METHODS
After 1 week, high and low responders to the acupuncture treatment were selected according to their cigarette consumption and the desire to smoke. A DRD2 TaqI A restriction enzyme fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) study examined genomic DNA extracted from blood samples.


RESULTS
The proportions of high, intermediate, and low responders were 28.6, 55.4, and 16.0%, respectively. The RFLP study showed that the distribution of the DRD2*A genotype and allele frequencies differed significantly between the high and low responders (chi(2) test, p = 0.031 and 0.016, respectively), and that high responders had a higher DRD2*A2 allele frequency than low responders.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that DRD2 TaqI A polymorphism is related to acupuncture response in smoking cessation treatment.
Department of Meridian and Acupuncture, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea.
Hi-Joon
HJ
Park
Seung-Tae
ST
Kim
Dong-Hak
DH
Yoon
Soo Hee
SH
Jin
Su-Jin
SJ
Lee
Hye Jung
HJ
Lee
Sabina
S
Lim
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000235:genetics*; D012016:Reference Values; D012907:Smoking / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D019914:Taq Polymerase / Q000378:metabolism
D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; D019914:Taq Polymerase