Possible association between OPRM1 genetic variance at the 118 locus and alcohol dependence in a large treatment sample: relationship to alcohol dependence symptoms.
BACKGROUND
Several lines of evidence from previous research indicate that opioid receptors play an important role in ethanol reinforcement and alcohol dependence (AD) risk. Conflicting results were reported on the role of the mu-opioid receptor (OPRM1) polymorphism A118G (Asn40Asp, rs1799971) in the development of alcoholism.


METHODS
We investigated a total number of 1,845 alcohol-dependent subjects recruited from inpatient facilities in Germany and 1,863 controls for the mu-opioid receptor (OPRM1) polymorphism using chi-square statistics.


RESULTS
An association between the OPRM variant and AD was detected (p = 0.022), in recessive (AA vs. GA/GG) and co-dominant (AA vs. GA) models of inheritance. An association between the OPRM variant and the DSM-IV criterion "efforts to cut down or could not" (p = 0.047) was found, but this did not remain significant after the correction for multiple testing.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that this functional OPRM variant is associated with risk of AD and these findings apply to more severe AD, although the association is only nominally significant.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. gabi.koller@med.unimuenchen.de
Gabriele
G
Koller
Peter
P
Zill
Dan
D
Rujescu
Monika
M
Ridinger
Oliver
O
Pogarell
Christoph
C
Fehr
Norbert
N
Wodarz
Brigitta
B
Bondy
Michael
M
Soyka
Ulrich W
UW
Preuss
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies / Q000379:methods; D056426:Genetic Loci / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu / Q000235:genetics*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
C485764:OPRM1 protein, human; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu