No alcoholism-protection effects of ADH1B*2 allele in antisocial alcoholics among Han Chinese in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
suggested that the genetic variation at ADH1B and ALDH2 influences the risk of alcoholism. The ADH1B*2 and ALDH2*2 alleles had been thought to be protective against alcoholism. Recent studies have suggested that either physiological tolerance of blood acetaldehyde, or innate insensitivity to it, or both may play a crucial role in keeping alcoholism from developing by protecting against adverse reactions. ALDH inactive form resulting from ALDH2*2, which slows the elimination of acetaldehyde and the more active isozymes produced by ADH1B*2, could generate higher acetaldehyde levels and thus deter heavy drinking (). The genotype frequency of ADH1B*2/*2 and ALDH2*(1/*2 or 2/*2), which are regarded protective against drinking behavior, is about 70% and 50%, respectively, among the Han Chinese population in Taiwan (Chen et al., 1999a). Most previous studies, however, have failed to separate the effects of antisocial personality disorder from those of alcoholism because of their high comorbidity. To understand the relationship among alcoholism, antisocial personality disorder, and the protective effects of ADH and ALDH, it is necessary to recruit individuals with antisocial personality disorder but without alcoholism. This study was designed to stratify subjects by various ADH1B and ALDH2 genotypes for a more effective association study. The strata were: antisocial alcoholics, antisocial non-alcoholics, community alcoholics, and normal controls.


METHODS
We recruited 579 Han Chinese individuals in Taiwan, intending to examine the alcoholism-protection effects of different ADH1B and ALDH2 genotypes with or without antisocial personality disorder.


RESULTS
We found no difference of ADH1B*2 allele frequency between the subjects of antisocial alcoholism and subjects of antisocial non-alcoholism, but we found significant difference of ALDH2*2 allele between these two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that there is no alcoholism-protection effect of ADH1B*2 allele in antisocial alcoholics among Han Chinese in Taiwan.
Lu
Ru-Band
RB
Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Ko
Huei-Chen
HC
Lee
Jia-Fu
JF
Lin
Wei-Wen
WW
Huang
San-Yuan
SY
Wang
Tso-Jen
TJ
Wu
Yi-Syuan
YS
Lu
Tsun-En
TE
Chou
Yuan-Hwa
YH
D000328:Adult; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics; D000483:Alleles; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D004247:DNA; C489332:ADH1B protein, human; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase