Genome-wide scan for self-rating of the effects of alcohol in American Indians.
OBJECTIVE
This study's aims were to map loci linked to self-rating of the effects of alcohol and to determine if there was overlap with loci mapped earlier for other substance dependence phenotypes in an American Indian community at high risk for substance dependence.


METHODS
Each participant gave a blood sample and completed a structured diagnostic interview using the Semi Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism. Retrospective report of responses to alcohol during the FIRST FIVE TIMES they had ever drank alcohol was estimated from the Self-Rating of the Effects of Alcohol (SRE) questionnaire for each participant. Genotypes were determined for a panel of 791 micro-satellite polymorphisms in 381 members of multiplex families using SOLAR.


RESULTS
Analyses of multipoint variance component Log of Odds (LOD) scores, for the FIRST FIVE TIMES phenotype, revealed two loci that had a LOD score greater than 3.0 on chromosomes 6 and 9. In addition, three locations were identified with LOD scores above 2.0 on chromosomes 10, 12, 17.


CONCLUSIONS
These results corroborate the importance of regions on chromosome 6 and 9 highlighted in earlier segregation studies in this and other populations for substance dependence-related phenotypes, as well as an area on chromosome 10 earlier identified for the FIRST FIVE TIMES phenotype in the collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism. These studies additionally lend further support the construct that the SRE may represent an important endophenotype associated with alcohol and other substance dependence.
Ehlers
Cindy L
CL
Department of Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
Gizer
Ian R
IR
Schuckit
Marc A
MA
Wilhelmsen
Kirk C
KC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005260:Female; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000235:genetics*; D008126:Lod Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult