title: The association of exon 3 VNTR polymorphism of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene with alcoholism in Mexican Americans.
abstract: In this study, the variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism of a 48-bp sequence located in exon 3 of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene was genotyped in 365 alcoholic and 337 non-alcoholic Mexican Americans. Logistic regression showed that genotypes without the 7-repeat allele were risk factors for alcoholism. However, linear regression did not find an association between DRD4 VNTR and MAXDRINKS, which was defined as the maximum number of drinks consumed within 24h. Our results indicate the presence of an association between DRD4 VNTR and alcoholism in Mexican Americans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
authors.forename: Yanlei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hung-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Yu-Jui Yvonne
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D050638:Receptors, Dopamine D4 / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D050638:Receptors, Dopamine D4