Association of the dopamine transporter gene with alcoholism.
OBJECTIVE
It was investigated whether the allele A9 of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1; SLC6A3) is associated with alcoholism, delirium tremens (DT), alcohol withdrawal seizures (AWS), or the daily alcohol intake.


METHODS
A group of 102 healthy subjects and 216 alcoholics, including 97 patients with a history of mild withdrawal symptoms, 65 with a history of AWS and 83 with a history of DT were genotyped and personal data were achieved for statistical evaluation in a case-control design.


RESULTS
The frequency of individuals carrying the allele A9 [f(A9+)] was significantly higher (P = 0.01) in the group of alcoholics [f(A9+) = 0.48] compared with healthy controls [f(A9+) = 0.32]. There was no significant association of the allele A9 with severe withdrawal symptoms or the daily amount of alcohol consumed.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results reveal that the allele A9 is strongly associated with alcoholism but not with withdrawal symptoms or daily alcohol intake.
University Hospital of Psychiatry, Osianderstrasse 24, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. michael.koehnke@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Michael D
MD
Köhnke
Anil
A
Batra
Werner
W
Kolb
Annette M
AM
Köhnke
Ulrich
U
Lutz
Sandra
S
Schick
Ines
I
Gaertner
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics; D000430:Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium / Q000235:genetics; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics*; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006580:Genetic Carrier Screening; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012016:Reference Values
D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; C493214:SLC6A3 protein, human