title: A genetic variant in the microRNA-146a gene is associated with susceptibility to alcohol use disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Polymorphisms in the microRNA (miRNA) regulatory pathways are novel functional genetic variants whose association with alcoholism susceptibility has not been previously studied. Given the potential relationship between certain miRNAs and alcohol use disorders (AUDs), this study was designed to explore the association between two polymorphisms within hsa-miR-146a and hsa-miR-196a2 genes and susceptibility to these diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and one male patients with AUDs and 156 sex-matched healthy volunteers were enrolled. Polymorphisms were genotyped using TaqMan(®) PCR assays. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared between groups and logistic regression analysis was also performed to analyze the model of inheritance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significantly higher prevalence of allele C carriers (47.8%) of the miR-146a G>C polymorphism (rs2910164) among patients with AUDs when compared with controls (35.9%), and multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the C allele was associated with these AUDs (OR=1.615, 95% CI 1.067-2.442; P=0.023). Neither the genotype nor the allele distribution of miR-196a2 polymorphism (rs11614913) was significantly different between groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first genetic association study to explore the relationship of miRNA polymorphisms with AUDs and to show an association of the miR-146a C>G rs2910164 allelic variant with this disease.
authors.affiliation: Alcoholism Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Novo-Veleiro
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: González-Sarmiento
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cieza-Borrella
authors.affiliation: Alcoholism Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Molecular Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.affiliation: Alcoholism Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: F-J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Laso
authors.affiliation: Alcoholism Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Molecular Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain. Electronic address: mmarcos@usal.es.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D000483:Alleles; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: C542542:MIRN146 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Alcoholism; Genetic polymorphisms; MicroRNA