title: Alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase polymorphisms in Chinese and Indian populations.
abstract: The association between two functional polymorphisms in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2/ADH1B) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) genes and alcohol dependence was examined in 182 Chinese and Indian patients undergoing treatment for alcohol dependence and 184 screened control subjects from Singapore. All subjects were screened by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Patients were also administered the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ). Polymorphisms were genotyped by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction and selected genotypes confirmed by DNA sequencing or restriction fragment length polymorphism. Our results showed that frequencies of ADH1B*2 and ALDH2*2 were higher in controls compared to alcohol-dependent subjects for both Chinese and Indians. Frequencies of these two alleles were also higher in the 104 Chinese controls compared to the 80 Indian controls. None of the eight Chinese who were homozygous for both protective alleles was alcohol dependent. The higher frequencies of the protective alleles could explain the lower rate of alcohol dependence in Chinese.
authors.affiliation: KK Research Centre, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore. tanec@bigfoot.com
authors.forename: Ene-Choo
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Jern-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: Jing-Yan
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chay-Hoon
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Munidasa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winslow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial; D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012846:Singapore / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C489332:ADH1B protein, human; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; C096127:ALDH2 protein, human; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial