title: Association of the met66 allele of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) with smoking.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been suggested that a susceptibility locus near the gene encoding the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) contributes to individual differences in human addiction vulnerability. BDNF modulates several behaviors that are associated with addictive drugs, and upregulation of BDNF was found to be associated with several drugs of abuse such as amphetamine, cocaine, and nicotine. In this study, we addressed the question if a common BDNF missense variation (Val66Met) influences the risk for smoking behavior in otherwise healthy human volunteers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 320 healthy unrelated volunteers (155 male, 165 female, mean age: 38.4 +/- 14.1 years) consisting of 43.3% never smokers, 20.9% former smokers, and 35.6% current smokers were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The frequency of both Met/Met genotype and Met allele was significantly increased in current and in former smokers when compared to never smokers (chi (2) = 10.856, df = 2, p = 0.004 and chi (2) = 4.350, df = 1, p = 0.045, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that humans who carry the Met allele of the BDNF missense polymorphism might be more vulnerable to initiate and also maintain smoking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Dresden, Fetscherstr 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany. undine.lang@gmx.de
authors.forename: Undine E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sander
authors.forename: Falk W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Lohoff
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hellweg
authors.forename: Malek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bajbouj
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winterer
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallinat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine; D008875:Middle Aged; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000235:genetics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D014633:Valine
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D008715:Methionine; D014633:Valine